


To Woo a Shinobi

by WriteMessyShit



Category: Naruto
Genre: Age Difference, Arranged Marriage, Courtship, F/M, Fainting, Falling In Love, Inuzuka Clan, Kissing, Loss of Parent(s), Love, Marriage, Marriage Proposal, Morning Sickness, Pregnancy, Romance, Teacher-Student Relationship, Updates Tuesdays and Fridays, for some reason Madara can use shadow clones
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-19
Updated: 2020-07-07
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:14:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 36
Words: 73,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25139053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WriteMessyShit/pseuds/WriteMessyShit
Summary: A stone-hearted shinobi comes face to face with a charming young kunoichi, sparking a daring romance in the most uncertain of times. [[Updates Tuesdays & Fridays]]
Relationships: Uchiha Madara/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 55





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this story back in 2015. It was originally posted (and reposted) on Quotev. In conjunction with my efforts to centralize all of my works, I am reposting this fanfic here, unedited and in its original form.
> 
> I have grown and changed as a writer in many ways since then. This was my first official novel-length fanfiction. Despite some (now obvious) canonical inaccuracies, I was and still am proud of myself for all the work and dedication I put into it. It's special to me, as is the whole Naruto fandom (being my first ever fandom experience).
> 
> Though I've definitely changed, I still want to honor my past self and share this work with you all. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did back in the day.
> 
> Thanks for reading. <3

"Konohagakure?" repeated the wide-eyed girl. Her mother folded her hands and looked at her father. The man nodded in approval, his black hair following the movements of his head.

"That’s where you three will be training," their father continued, his wife smiling back at her children. Kuro, the eldest of the three, looked down thoughtfully.

"Training to become ninja?" he asked. He was twenty-one, a full two years older than his younger siblings.

"Why can’t we be trained here?" Kashikoi asked, clearly displeased with the idea of being away from his family. Their clan had become smaller as time went on, but they were as close as ever now.

"We don’t have the adequate training for you here," their father replied. He reached for a scroll on the table in front of him. Kiyoko, Kashikoi’s fraternal twin, shifted on her cushion.

"That’s from Konoha?" she asked, and her father nodded. The room was silent as he unrolled the scroll and cleared his throat.

"You will be training under one of Konoha’s best: Uchiha Madara," he began, and the siblings gasped softly.

"An Uchiha?" Kiyoko said in disbelief. A few pieces of her long brown hair fell in front of her shoulders as she leaned forward, her mouth open in shock. Madara Uchiha was well renowned in the ninja world. The Uchiha clan was one of the most powerful clans of all, along with the Senju.

"That’s right," their father continued. "This is an opportunity that we cannot deny. It is a privilege and honor to be training under such a skilled man."

"This will make you stronger," their mother added. "And it will bring honor to our clan to have such talented children train under a man such as Uchiha Madara."

"It is for the clan," their father said. "And it is for you."

* * *

The Ookami siblings knew that their clan was small. It used to be larger, said Father, but the war killed many of their members off. The three siblings were the only hope that the Ookami clan had left. The three had been born with the rare Deva Path Rinnegan. They were distantly related to the Uchiha, and the genes had passed along to the siblings now. Kuro and Kashikoi had a small amount of ocular powers, but they were the strongest in Kiyoko. She had the most developed stage of the Deva Path Rinnegan. Their parents hoped that the Uchiha would accept their children on the basis of linked ancestry, despite the fact that the Rinnegan their children inherited was incomplete, and not linked to the Sharingan.

Somewhere along the way, there was an odd twist in the Ookami genes. Although the Rinnegan was present in their blood, it only ever showed up partially in those who were fortunate enough to attain it. The Deva Path was the only path they ever fully mastered. Because it was incomplete, the user’s eyes would not change to the grey color like a full-fledged Rinnegan user’s would. In Ookami, their original eye color would remain, only a dark black ring would appear around the pupil when the Rinnegan was in use. In the more advanced users, the black ring already around the iris would visibly thicken, as this was the case with Kiyoko’s eyes.

Kiyoko’s eyes were a piercing green, while Kuro’s were a deep, icy blue, and Kashikoi had one blue eye and one green eye. Kiyoko’s hair was long, brown, and curled at the end, and Kashikoi’s hair was short, but matched Kiyoko’s in color. In contrast, Kuro’s hair was short and black. It seemed that whatever physical traits Kiyoko and Kuro had, Kashikoi got a mixture of.

It was obvious that they were related, and they were hard to miss. From the moment the siblings left their village to the moment they entered the newly founded Konoha, they had the attention of any and all passersby.

Their guide, a Senju from Konoha, made little attempt to make conversation with the three along the way. They didn’t seem to mind. It was the first time they had ever been outside of their small, secluded village in the mountains. The sights and sounds were so foreign to them, and everything was magnified to their canine senses.

But nothing was more impressive than the moment they reached the gates of Konohagakure. The walls towered over them like a mighty, impenetrable fortress, and even the trees seemed bigger than those in their tiny village back home. The mighty gates stood open for them, and stepping past the immense threshold was like stepping into an entirely different world altogether.

This was Konohagakure.


	2. Chapter 2

"I sent a guide to bring them here six days ago," Hashirama stated. He was calmly seated at his desk in his office, trying to assure his colleague that his new students were worthy of him.

"The Ookami numbers have been in a rapid decline for the past twenty years," said the Uchiha, ignoring Hashirama’s attempts at avoiding the subject. The first Hokage sighed.

"These students are the most promising of their clan," Hashirama repeated, probably for the millionth time over the past year. "Their clan simply doesn’t have the right teachers to train students of this high of ability."

"Ability is observed, not spoken," Madara stated plainly. Hashirama decided to drop the subject. He knew what Madara said was true, and he couldn’t argue with it.

"They should arrive today," Hashirama continued, standing from his desk. "It’s a three day trek on foot; that is, if you’re going nonstop."

Madara said nothing. He continued to stare out the office window for a moment longer, and then decided to leave the room. Hashirama followed him.

"I will be providing for them a place to stay," Hashirama said. It was the most he could do to take somewhat of a burden off the Uchiha’s shoulders. Madara hadn’t been so thrilled to have students, but he had agreed to it nonetheless. Konoha was supposed to be a place where children had a childhood, and could learn and grow. It was his obligation as a skilled ninja to pass down his skills to younger generations.

The two ninja reached the open door at the end of the hallway. They stopped and stood just outside the threshold. The breeze blew softly, and they were standing just far enough from the stairs so that the shadow cast by the nearby trees protected them from the afternoon sun. The birds warbled away cheerfully, and it almost seemed that peace had been grasped in that moment. Hashirama sighed and smiled, casting a glance at his old friend.

"You’ll make a good teacher for them," he said, putting a hand on Madara’s shoulder. The Uchiha looked at him out of the corner of his eye, an eyebrow raised. There was a smirk tugging at his lips, but it never made it onto his face. He made a "hn" in reply, and made his way down the steps. Hashirama watched the man as he continued on across the courtyard and down a street. He could only hope that these kids impressed Madara. It was what their clan desperately needed: higher-ranking approval.

* * *

Madara made his way toward the gates of Konoha. He wasn’t at all sure who he was looking for. All he knew was that they were siblings, so they likely had similar features. Considering they were from the north, where it was much colder, they most likely had pale complexions due to their lack of exposure to the sun.

He also knew that Ookami specialized in a transmutation jutsu. They were able to transform into wolves without weaving hand-signs due to the permanent jutsu seals placed on them as babies. Their ancestors, who had moved into the mountains before many of the clan wars took place, developed the seal in order to adapt to the climate. After some time, they found it to be a useful technique for fighting, and began to develop it in each of their members. They became quite powerful when the clan wars began, but then began dying off when fewer members were receiving the Deva Path Rinnegan. During their golden age, they had relied too much on their ocular powers, and had not developed their jutsu, leading to their downfall. That was the history of the Ookami clan according to the Uchiha.

Related or not, the Ookami had been somewhat of a disgrace: not only to the Uchiha, but to the Rinnegan itself. Although they could wield it well, they only received one of the six paths of Rinnegan, making it incomplete. The arrogance that the Ookami clan had in wielding the fraction they did receive was probably the most irritating thing to the Uchiha, who saw themselves as honored and privileged to attain such immense ocular power.

For Madara, it was likely that his students had received and developed, to some degree, the Deva Path Rinnegan. This also meant that the chances of his students having a large ego about it were even higher than the chances of their possession of the dojutsu. This factor alone was enough to give the Uchiha leader a headache prior to even meeting his students.

Madara found himself in the training grounds near the entrance of Konoha. He had barely received any information as to who his students even were, save for the fact that they were Ookami and there were three of them. One Ookami was surely enough, thought Madara, as he easily jumped into a tree facing toward the center of the small clearing. But no, Hashirama had to set him up with three of the dang things. Was it really fair? Perhaps two other teachers could be brought into service alongside him. Or, better yet, Madara could probably get himself out of this mess entirely and hire one more teacher to work in his place. He’d pay them accordingly for the work (which by the way, his salary for doing this deed was not near high enough in his mind, although that was something to be taken up with Hashirama on a later date).

Just then, he saw a group of three ninja mosey into the training ground. They appeared to be young, probably brushing their early twenties. One of them was female, and another was a tall male with black hair. They seemed serious. The third one was loud. He made some imbecilic comment, to which the female knocked him upside the head for, the quieter pair continuing on while the boisterous one was left sprawled out on the ground, busily gathering his bearings. Madara really hoped these were not his students. They were undoubtedly related, though. They had too many like physical attributes not to be.

Positive that these indeed  _ were _ his students (and not in the least excited about the fact), he took special care in concealing himself and reluctantly began to devise a strategical entrance.

* * *

"And what does that have to do with anything, Kashi?" Kiyoko groaned, already annoyed with her twin. They had only been in Konohagakure for five minutes, and the idiot had already begun blabbering about attractive women.

"The longer we’re here, the more of a chance I’ll have to hook up with some ladies," Kashikoi said, shooting up from his position on the ground, as if he hadn’t been whacked a second ago.

"And  _ this _ is supposed to somehow honor our family," Kuro muttered in reference to his younger brother, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration. Kashikoi waltzed in front of his siblings and leaned against a thick wooden pole. He was about to say something witty, Kiyoko and Kuro could tell. Just then, a kunai flew in from behind them, piercing the wood just inches away from Kashikoi’s head.

Kiyoko turned first, a shocked expression on her face. Kuro muttered a ‘what the’, and Kashikoi, once he had finished examining the blade by his neck, gave a defensive glare in the direction of the thrower.

Three men were walking toward them, the first spinning another kunai knife on his finger.

"Well, now," said the man with the kunai. "It seems that some outsiders joined us for target practice."

"Ah, what makes you say they’re outsiders?" said the second snickered, "The matching white shirts or the matching idiotic looks on their faces?"

"Hey, back off, alright?" Kuro took a step forward, his voice low and dangerous. Kiyoko backed up behind him.

"Do you think you can tell me what to do in my village, smartass?" said the first man. By this time, all three of the men had drawn kunai. Kashikoi pulled the knife out of the wood beside his head and stepped forward, taking an aggressive stance along with Kuro.

"All you Ookami are still the same, aren’t you?" said the third man, as the three began to surround the brothers. "You think you own whatever place you–"

That’s when both of Kuro’s fists smashed into two of the men’s faces, sending them both reeling several feet in the opposite direction. At the same time, Kashikoi’s fist met the last man’s face, sending him flying as well.


	3. Chapter 3

The fight began much quicker than Madara had anticipated, which discouraged him more. He thrust more of his chakra into the clones he had created so they wouldn’t have a chance of dying for a while. The only odd thing he noticed was that the female had slipped away from the fight before it even began, as if she was hesitant to join any sort of brawl.

She was hidden behind a bush about thirty yards off from Madara’s tree, eyes closed, making a sign with her hands. Madara activated his Sharingan, only to see that she wasn’t hiding; she was supplying her brothers with a small, but steady flow of chakra. So their teamwork was alright, but the tempers of the males were incredibly short. At least the female had a sense of strategy, it seemed. Madara reluctantly made note of this.

Suddenly, the female stopped sending chakra to her brothers. She swiftly turned her head and looked directly into Madara’s eyes, piercing green Deva Path Rinnegan activated. Right then, she uttered one simple phrase.

**_"Found you."_ **

Like lightning, she was on her feet and across the clearing, bounding right up the tree toward him. She threw a fist directly at him, and he dodged. Out of the corner of his eye, he noted the brothers had seen their sister’s advances and defeated the clones in one blow. Could they have chosen to do that from the start? Or were they buying more time for their sister to find the person who controlled the clones? How did they even know they were clones to begin with?

The female was hot on Madara’s tail, taking a swing at him again. Madara caught her fist and threw her in between her advancing brothers, who stopped to catch their sister. They were about to retaliate when Madara held up a hand to stop them.

* * *

"I am Uchiha Madara," the man with long black hair said, holding up his hand to stop the siblings from attacking. Kiyoko blinked in recognition of the name. "I am your new teacher."

" **_You’re_ ** Uchiha Madara?" Kashikoi repeated in shock. Annoyed, Kiyoko whacked him on the head again.

"He  **_just_ ** said that,  _ baka _ ," she snapped at him, rolling her eyes. "Sorry about him." She straightened her posture. "It’s nice to meet you. This is my older brother, Kuro, my younger brother, Kashikoi, and I’m Kiyoko. We’re Ookami."

"I know that," replied Madara. "Considering the aggressiveness in your fighting. You were more successful than I expected you to be, though. Especially you."

Kiyoko blinked. Had she just heard that right? What was that supposed to mean? Was he expecting her to be the weakest?

Kuro and Kashikoi took an immediate step back. They weren’t about to get in their sister’s way. They were going to have to find a new teacher in a matter of seconds.

"What?" Kiyoko growled, glaring at the man in front of her. Kashikoi visibly cringed. The guy was only their sensei for five seconds, and he was about to be torn apart.

"What did you just say to me?" Kiyoko continued. "I’ll have you know that the women of the Ookami clan are respected and feared for a reason." Her eyes reverted back to the bright green Rinnegan, and suddenly she transformed into a huge, muscular, angry looking wolf, teeth bared. She sprang forward, the ground underneath her paws smashing under the force of her Rinnegan. She lunged at him, swinging her paw at his face, intending to kill in one blow. Madara, however, vanished in a replacement jutsu, and Kiyoko smashed the left over log into pieces. Her rage only heightened.

She spotted him right away, but before she could take another swing at him, Madara had jumped over her. He placed his palm on the back of her head, right where her transmutation seal was. Kiyoko felt the chakra in the seal suddenly vanish, and she instantly found herself flat on the ground, being held down by Madara.

Kuro and Kashikoi were in utter disbelief.

"How did you...?" asked Kashikoi, earning a glare from Kiyoko.

"Simple," Madara replied monotonously. "Chakra absorption. If there’s no chakra flowing through the seal, you can’t perform your jutsu."

Kiyoko let out a low growl and struggled, but her efforts didn’t make any difference. The Rinnegan wouldn’t have helped anymore either; she couldn’t see him.

"Originally I had thought that your temper wasn’t so flammable, unlike that of your brothers," Madara continued, clearly speaking to Kiyoko now. "Apparently, I misjudged you."

"Get off of me," Kiyoko snapped, and Madara finally let her go. She stood up and quickly jumped to Kuro’s side. Kuro was giving Madara the same displeased look. This teacher was going to be a real pain. Forget paying the teacher; the siblings should be paid for him to teach them.

Madara had the same expression on his face the whole time. He didn’t seem shocked or surprised at anything the siblings did, which annoyed Kiyoko even more. Didn’t he know who he was dealing with? She could tear him apart if she really wanted to. She just decided it wasn’t really worth it. Besides, he had cheated. He knew too much about them. Kiyoko had just been at a disadvantage; that was all.

"Your housing will be provided by the Senju clan," Madara said. "Our first training session will begin promptly at nine tomorrow morning."

Kiyoko just gave him a dumbfounded look, not even bothering to say anything to him anymore. He didn’t seem to take notice. He simply beckoned the trio to follow him through Konoha, leading them toward the Hokage’s office building. The siblings said nothing to their new sensei. The silent treatment had been constituted. Just as the three siblings could transfer chakra to each other, so it seemed that they could transfer their thoughts as well.

Hashirama Senju seemed to be a more agreeable person. He was kind enough to take the Ookami out of the hands of their sensei in order to show them to their apartment. When they were finally alone in the apartment, Kiyoko dropped her bag to the floor in annoyance.

"Who does he think he is?" she huffed. "Analyzing us like our entire clan is lab rats to him?"

"He seems to know a lot about us," Kuro said, indifferently for a change. He slowly began to unpack his bag. Kiyoko crossed her arms and looked out the window.

"He probably thought we were amateurs," Kashikoi grumbled. Kiyoko turned and looked at him.

"Probably because of you," she said. "You’re the only amateur here."

"I am not!" Kashikoi whined defensively. "Whose side are you on?!"

"Well she couldn’t be on the side of Mister ‘I thought your temper wasn’t flammable’," Kuro joked, and Kiyoko rolled her eyes.

"He’s so outspoken," she retorted, looking back out the window.

"He’s an Uchiha," Kuro replied. "He’s entitled to it."

Kiyoko chucked, shaking her head. She stared out the window for a bit longer, and then turned away to unroll her tatami mat.

"What a jerk," she said, and the rest of the congregation replied with a grunt in agreement.


	4. Chapter 4

"Why does training have to be so early?" Kashikoi whined, still rubbing his eyes. He may as well have brought his whole bed with him, the way he was lying on the ground. Madara tried not to sigh in frustration.

"Because this time fits in my daily schedule nicely," Madara replied. Kashikoi groaned.

"It doesn’t work with my sleep schedule," he muttered, and Kiyoko rolled her eyes.

"Get up," she said, nudging him in the side with her foot. Annoyed, her brother glared at her and stood up, brushing the dirt off his loose white shirt. All of the Ookami’s shirts matched. It was disgusting. Konoha villagers did not wear white. If their shirts got too dirty, perhaps they’d go and buy new ones, preferably ones that weren’t so bulky. There was no reason to bundle up so much down south.

"The first thing we’ll do today is taijutsu," Madara said. It was something they all needed. He was more willing to do this part of the training. He enjoyed fighting. But he also enjoyed fighting with equals even more.

"You first, Kuro," Madara motioned at Kuro, but he couldn’t resist the urge to make a slightly disgusted face. "And take off your over-shirts, you two. You’ll pass out before you even get started in this heat." Madara himself was wearing a long sleeve navy blue shirt, like he regularly wore, and pants to match. It was the normal Uchiha garb.

Kuro and Kashikoi removed their shirts to reveal tighter, black undershirts. That would do for now at least. All three would eventually find themselves needing lighter weight clothing, and the harder Madara worked them, the faster they would go and get that clothing. Perhaps they would finally look like everyone else in this village.

Kuro stepped forward, an emotionless look on his face.

"I’m going to introduce an exercise to you," Madara said to all three of them. "Your goal, individually, is to land a hit on me within a certain amount of tries. We’ll start at ten tries."

"Ten tries?" Kiyoko said, questioningly. "That many?"

"I could hit you in one," Kashikoi snorted.

"We’ll see," Madara continued. "Like I said before, that’s where we’ll start. But here’s the catch: you cannot use any ocular powers to aid you. Only taijutsu."

"Fair enough," Kuro said, getting into position. Madara did the same. It was totally silent.

"Begin!" came the command from Madara, and Kuro charged for Madara, who easily dodged the first attempt.

"One."

Kuro charged again, this time faster, but to no avail. Madara seemed as though he knew where Kuro was going to go and what he was going to try to do.

"Two. Three. Four, five."

As easy as it sounded, with someone like Madara, it was the opposite of easy. Kuro was not light on his feet either. None of the siblings were, much to Madara’s disgust. Madara could have dodged this barrage with his eyes closed.

"Six. Seven, eight."

The more Kuro tried, the more frustrated he looked. The only thing that was keeping these kids from getting anywhere was their arrogance. If only they could realize how terribly they were doing, they’d actually have incentive to improve instead of getting angry all the time. Their tempers were self-destructive.

"Nine, ten," Madara said, and Kuro stopped, panting. Kiyoko and Kashikoi didn’t even know what to say now. If Kuro couldn’t do it, how could they? Kuro was the strongest physically. Kiyoko was fast, but without her ocular powers, she didn’t have much strength. Kashikoi had mediocre strength, and mediocre ocular powers, but even if the two were combined, it wouldn’t help him against Madara.

"You can throw a forceful punch," Madara began. "And your follow-through is nice. But you’ve got little speed. You also seem to have good strategy, but you can’t seem to execute them fast enough, so they end up being useless. Also, you get too frustrated, and you let it get to your head; control that."

Kuro said nothing. He just stood there, staring at Madara. He didn’t seem to show any aggressiveness in receiving advice, so that was a plus. Out of all of them, Kuro seemed to be the most well-rounded when it came to constructive criticism. He just seemed to follow too much in his sister’s lead, who was much more easily agitated than he was. His protectiveness was not the problem: it was that he could be swayed too easily by her. Madara would need to fix that.

"Alright, Kashikoi," Madara said, turning toward the younger of the two males. Kashikoi stood from his kneeling position, a wide-eyed, confused look on his face. The two got into their ready positions, and began. Kashikoi’s session ended even faster than Kuro’s.

"You’ve got some speed," Madara said, as Kashikoi sat down in frustration. "But you’ve got no strategy at all. You just seem to flail around, instead of executing your strikes and following through."

"What strikes?" Kashikoi muttered. "I didn’t even hit you."

"You must aim to hit, or you will perpetually miss," Madara replied. "You seem to let your mistakes go to your head as well, and that disrupts any logical thought process. Learn to control your temper when you fight, and you’ll see improvement."

Kashikoi grumbled incoherent nonsense and got up off the ground, moseying over to where Kuro was sitting.

Kiyoko stood before Madara turned to summon her. She would be the real hot-headed one, out of all of them. She had a calculating look in her eyes. She had just seen him dodge direct attacks, so she had an idea of how he moved. Or so she thought. Unlike a lot of people, Madara was not nearly as limited in how he moved about in a fight. He had many different styles of fighting.

"Begin!" said Madara, and Kiyoko rushed towards him. She wasn’t that light on her feet either, but she was faster than her brothers. She took a swing, and Madara dodged.

"One."

Like Madara expected, she knew how he would dodge her initial offensive. She bounced off her first miss and right into another attack, but Madara was already ahead of her.

"Two."

With every miss, she got further and further behind Madara’s strategy, although she was close to being in line with it at the beginning. Madara had the upper-hand the whole time, and he got progressively further along as the fight came to a close.

"Eight. Nine, ten," Madara said, and Kiyoko stopped, panting. Her expression was now that of displeasure. She didn’t like to lose, Madara could tell. She just wasn’t used to it. This must have been a bad last few days for her.

"You’re fast," Madara said, staring easily into her intense green eyes, which were undoubtedly shooting unseen, vengeful lightning bolts at him. "But you’ve got no force behind the punches you throw. Your strategy was good at the start, but you cannot rely on your own strategy in a fight. You’ve got to figure out your opponent’s strategy, and stay alongside it. Disregarding their strategy will result in failure. If you don’t consider all aspects, and focus only on your own sphere, you’re ignoring the fight itself. It’s not all about you. Learn to broaden your line of vision, and see past yourself. When you can see the whole fight, you’ve got a chance at winning."

She said nothing, but the look on her face said everything she wanted to get across. She did not like her sensei. She did not like being told what was wrong with her. And she did not like how sweaty she was right now. Madara refrained from mentioning for a second time that the sibling should get different uniforms. They would figure it out eventually.

By now, it was almost lunchtime. Madara had things that needed to be done in the afternoon, so their training session was about over. He wouldn’t make any sort of progress with them today, especially since two of his students were still being stubborn. He decided to adjourn.

"I will see you at the same time tomorrow morning," Madara said. The siblings, as he had expected, made little attempt to audibly respond to him. They heard him, though. Kuro and Kashikoi were busy putting their over-shirts back on. He had made some progress, especially with Kuro, who seemed more receptive than the other two. Kiyoko and Kashikoi were still young. They would take longer, but they would eventually give in as well, this Madara knew.

With that, he and the siblings left the training ground. They parted ways at the nearest street, Madara off to do his daily work, and the trio left to themselves for lunch.

* * *

Not much was said between the siblings. Their pride had been hurt, and all of a sudden, they didn’t seem to be as gifted as they had thought. Kuro seemed to be dealing with the situation better than the other two. Kiyoko scowled. Deep inside though, she really wanted to prove herself worthy. And also deep inside, she felt that the way to do that was to punch the Uchiha’s face in.

They wandered around until they found an appetizing, quiet restaurant, and then ordered food. Kiyoko barely even touched hers when they were served. Kuro looked over at her, having sat in between her and Kashikoi.

"You know, staring at your food doesn’t absorb it," he joked. His younger sister made no attempt to laugh. He sighed. "Don’t take what Madara-sensei says as an insult. I think he’s just being realistic with us. What do you expect from a teacher?"

"He thinks he’s better than us," Kashikoi piped up.

"All because he’s an Uchiha," Kiyoko muttered, breaking apart her chopsticks forcefully.

"Considering that none of us could hit him," Kuro said. "I think he is better than us."

There was silence for a moment.

"It’s his mindset," Kiyoko said. "The way he carries himself around us, like he’s earned the right to mock us with his skills."

"He’s an Uchiha," Kuro stated again, just as he had the night before. "He’s entitled to whatever he can obtain. But we’re giving him every reason to mock us. We’re waving around our pride like it’s ours. But all we’re really waving around is an empty jar. He’s got a full one. And he’s offering to fill ours."

Kiyoko sighed. Why did Kuro have to be the one with the wisdom? She flung a noodle at his face, catching him totally off guard.

"Well, I’ll fill his jar with noodles in return for messing up my shirt!" she laughed, alluding to the dirt and scuff marks on her white over-shirt.

"You should have taken it off then!" Kashikoi said, throwing a noodle at Kiyoko, who dodged the projectile.

"You baka!" she roared, on the edge of bursting into uncontrollable laughter as her retaliation noodle landed on Kashikoi’s face. "You’re a pervert! I can’t do that! That’s totally immodest!"

The siblings kicked themselves out of the restaurant before the manager had to for making such a ruckus. They took their food with them and sat under a tree, calming down.

"You ruined my shirt, Kuro," Kiyoko said, poking him with her chopsticks. Her brother smiled.

"Our shirts are too heavy to wear here anyway," he replied.

"That doesn’t justify the fact that you ruined it," Kiyoko said, throwing a mushroom at his ear. This time, he didn’t fight back. He just chuckled.

"Go get a new one then," Kashikoi said, and Kiyoko threw a mushroom at him as well. Kashikoi became more hostile at this attack, but immediately backed down when Kiyoko stood up.

She threw away her bento box and stretched, standing near her brothers for a moment.

"I’ll meet up with you guys later," she finally said, after a short pause. "I’m going to get a new uniform. And I would suggest you guys did eventually as well."

Kuro and Kashikoi made their usual grunt in reply, and Kiyoko, satisfied, headed down the street, looking for a clothing shop. She had seen one earlier, but didn’t remember where it was. Wandering about wouldn’t do her any good. She sighed.

Someone walked past her, and she overheard a conversation about just having gotten a new training outfit. Perfect. Kiyoko took a big whiff in, caught the scent of the person, and proceeded to follow their scent trail back to where they came from. This person happened to have just been at the place she wanted to go. Kiyoko smiled at herself. Sometimes her acute sense of smell could be extremely helpful.

She stepped into the quiet little store–through the breezy noren at the doorway, and by the soft sound of the wind chime hanging nearby–and lifted her eyes to observe. It was small, but it had a sufficient amount of clothing, all of which modern while retaining traditional beauty. It all looked so light weight. Kiyoko looked down at her own clothing, which was not nearly as lightweight or flowing. It was probably time for a change.

She didn’t know where to begin. Just then, a little old woman, presumably the shopkeeper, came to her rescue, bowing multiple times in welcome. She appeared to be Senju.

" _ Konnichiwa _ , good afternoon," she said, a smile on her face, which Kiyoko gladly returned. "You are a ninja, no?"

Kiyoko responded with a nod of the head.

"A pretty young ninja will need clothes to match her beauty," the woman said, waving off the clothes Kiyoko was initially standing by. She led Kiyoko back a little further in the store and pulled out a short yellow qipao dress with red trim and dark red pants. The old lady then proceeded to usher Kiyoko back into a dressing room to try it on. Sure enough, it fit perfectly, and Kiyoko felt led to buy it. It was light weight, and the color was a nice bright change from her usual white.

Kiyoko thanked the lady and left the store wearing her new clothes, her old ones in a bag. These would be much better. Her hair would have to be tied up too, she thought with a huff. It just got in the way during training, and she didn’t want to cut it. She tied it up into a ponytail and headed down the street in the direction of her apartment. She would write her parents back home and tell them how things were going. Kuro and Kashikoi would probably like to write something as well. Their progress would be very important to Mother and Father.

Kiyoko smiled and quickened her pace, and with a spring in her step, she bounded back to the apartment, eager to write.


	5. Chapter 5

"Sensei," Kiyoko called over to Madara, who was helping Kashikoi follow through on movements about ten yards away. "How long is this going to take?" She was clearly frustrated, and probably expecting this training to take much less time than it was.

"As long as you take," Madara replied, to which Kiyoko turned her head in disgust. Her temper was slowly getting better, but she still made no effort to hide her feelings.

"It’s been three weeks," she whined, throwing more frustrated punches at the cylindrical wooden block in front of her.

"Like I said," Madara repeated, not bothering to look over at her anymore. "It will take as long as you take."

Kiyoko fumed silently and punched the block even faster. Madara paid no mind and continued to tutor Kashikoi in his work. He could throw a punch but he could never land one. He never followed through, so none of the force he applied originally ever met his opponent. He was slowly getting better though. All three of them were. Kuro was still a little heavy in his step, but his strategy making skills were improving dramatically. He was starting to move with purpose, and starting to read his opponent’s movements.

"Madara!" came a familiar male voice, and Madara turned around to see Hashirama approaching him. Kashikoi looked up, as well as his siblings, who made a great effort to say an adoring ‘hello’ to the Hokage as well. Madara sweat-dropped. If only they would treat their own sensei with the same respect as they did Hashirama.

" _Konnichiwa_ ," Madara said in acknowledgment of his friend, and then he turned to his students, realizing it was almost lunchtime. "Take your lunch break now. We will continue afterward."

"Things appear to be going well," Hashirama said, observing the siblings as they waltzed over to the shade where they had put their packed lunches. Madara nodded, turning away from them to look back at Hashirama. The Hokage pulled out two lunches, and gave Madara a look that said "don’t worry about it." Madara made no protest. They hadn’t eaten lunch together like this since they were kids. Hashirama began to walk toward some shade nearby, which was situated across the clearing from where the siblings were.

"I’m glad to hear it’s running smoothly," Hashirama said, finding a nice spot under a tree. Madara sat as well. "Making good progress?"

"Some," Madara said, opening the box and breaking apart his chopsticks with a quiet " _Ittadakimasu_ ". Hashirama did the same. "They’ve all got the temper of an ox, and it comes out all too often. But it’s been getting better as they days go on."

"Well, you’re definitely teaching Ookami then," Hashirama chuckled. "I’d be worried if they didn’t have tempers."

"You don’t know what you’re talking about," Madara said, rolling his eyes. "I’d take them without their tempers any day." Hashirama only laughed. It was quiet for a moment, as they dug into their food. Hashirama had made sure that Madara’s box had gotten extra sushi. He loved that stuff, although he’d never admitted it to anyone but Hashirama, and that was when they were children.

"You’ve still got your own temper, though," Hashirama said, smiling and shaking his head.

"At least I have the gumption to control it," Madara said, picking up more sushi.

"Of course you do," Hashirama said, a sliver of sarcasm slipping through his teeth. Madara turned and looked at him now.

"What are you suggesting?"

"Why would I be suggesting anything?"

"You are suggesting something."

"When did I suggest something?"

"Just now."

"Whatever are you talking about?"

"You know exactly what I’m talking about."

"Do I?"

"Oh, I think you do."

"Well, now you’re suggesting something at me!"

"At least I’m clear about what I’m suggesting!"

"Are you suggesting that I’m bad at suggesting?"

"Just spit it out already."

Hashirama laughed heartily. They didn’t get a lot of times like these, he and Madara.

"I think I know what causes your temper," he continued, trying to swallow his laughter.

"Do you now," Madara said. It was more of a statement than a question.

"Considering that it’s only gotten worse with age," Hashirama went on, struggling against the urge to burst into laughter again. Madara rolled his eyes. Hashirama could really be a child.

"That must be it," Madara said sarcastically. "I’m becoming a grumpy old man, is that it?"

"Nonsense!" Hashirama exclaimed, winning the fight against his adolescent urge to giggle and composing himself again. "You’ve got a long way to go before that. Besides, my hypothesis is far more flattering to your age anyway."

"Well, I still have yet to hear what it is," Madara said, putting his last sushi roll in his mouth.

"You’ve been suppressing your sexual urges, Madara," Hashirama stated as-a-matter-of-factly. "That causes men of your age to have terrible tempers."

Madara spit out his sushi. Then he turned his head slowly and glared at Hashirama, partially because he had just lost a delicious sushi roll, and partially because Hashirama was mentioning an already annoying topic that Madara would rather not talk about.

He half expected Hashirama to burst into laughter again, but he didn’t. The just man sat there, waiting for a response from the Uchiha. All he received was a flaming glare, which Hashirama took as enough of a response to move on.

"You don’t have a wife, Madara," Hashirama said.

"Because I have no interest in a wife."

"But if you did–"

"I have no interest in a wife."

"Even if you don’t–"

"I have no interest in marrying."

"Yes, but–"

"I have no interest in Uchiha women."

"You–"

"I have no interest in women in general."

"I know you don’t. But how many women have you ever considered?"

"I would rather we **_didn’t_ ** talk about this," Madara interrupted him, still staring right at Hashirama, who was unmoved by the Uchiha’s intense gaze.

"I really think you’d benefit from it," Hashirama continued.

"I do **_not_ ** want to talk about this, Hashirama," Madara said again, more forcefully this time. Hashirama was still unfazed.

"Hear me out for one minute, and then I’ll never mention this to you again," Hashirama said. Madara was still glaring, but he let out a big sigh.

" **_One_ ** minute," Madara affirmed. "I won’t say a word for a **_whole_ ** minute. By then, you’d better be done, because I’m counting."

"Got it," Hashirama said, and then he slowly pointed his finger across the clearing. Madara broke his glare and followed where Hashirama was pointing.

"I can bet you that you’ve never considered any women like that," Hashirama said lowly, taking his sweet time in speaking. He was pointing right at Kiyoko. Madara face palmed, opened his mouth to remind Hashirama just how stupid he was, and then bit his tongue in a frustrated huff.

"She’s young, beautiful, intelligent, strong," Hashirama continued, almost murmuring now so the siblings wouldn’t happen to overhear. They probably wouldn’t, considering they were talking about something very loudly. Madara couldn’t believe how gruelingly long this minute was taking. He still had twenty seconds of this nonsense left.

"And she has a whole lot of energy," Hashirama said. "Which would be **_really_** good for you."

Only ten more seconds left. Madara didn’t know if he could take it for that long. His head was about to explode.

"After all," Hashirama went on. "You’ve got a huge load to take off your shoulders. She’s probably feisty enough to keep you busy."

"Enough," Madara snapped. "Your minute is over; now it’s my turn to talk." Hashirama made no attempt to protest. Madara definitely was not one to talk about sexual exertions.

"First of all, I am thirty-seven," Madara began, immediately dominating the atmosphere. "I am well past marrying age. Secondly, she may be of marrying age, but she is **_not_ ** of marrying age, and please understand what I mean when I say that. She is a **_child_ ** in every way I can think of."

"But you have to admit, she is beautiful," Hashirama stated, a small smile on his face.

"That has nothing to do with my point," Madara fired back, keeping his cool, but just barely.

"And you may be older," Hashirama continued. "But you could get by with it."

"I don’t think you understand what I’m trying to say," Madara said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I am not interested in women, I am not interested in marriage, I am not interested in **_her_ ** , she is childish, **_NO._ **"

"Perhaps," Hashirama said, stretching. "But maybe it’s only because you treat her like a child."

"She has no sense of maturity at all," Madara said. "And you owe me a sushi roll."

Hashirama chuckled, and took Madara’s empty bento box and standing up. Madara stood up as well, rolling his eyes at his friend’s idiocy.

"From what interactions I’ve had with her," Hashirama said. "I find her to be a very kind and entertaining young woman. But perhaps our conversations differ from yours in subject."

Madara made an unamused ‘hn’, and Hashirama exchanged goodbyes with him before leaving. He was too obsessed with his wife to be, Mito Uzumaki. That had to be it. For some reason, ever since he met the Uzumaki, Hashirama had always claimed to Madara that sex was the answer, as well as regular prayer to the Shinto gods. Madara would rather not be engaged in such activities. He didn’t care about them. He didn’t want a wife, he didn’t want children, and he didn’t care about women.

Madara looked back over to where his students were, seeing them all prancing around, sparring with each other. Kiyoko had been the first one to heed Madara’s advice and get a new uniform. Madara sighed, annoyed. Now whenever he looked at her, Hashirama’s conversation would replay in his head. This was just great.

He didn’t have to admit anything. He didn’t care if she was beautiful or not. He wasn’t interested, and she wasn’t interested, and nobody else had a say in those things. He was the leader of the Uchiha clan, and nobody, not even his advisors, could tell him what to do at this point. He had no elder family members, and he was past marrying age, so he would not be marrying anyone, anytime. He didn’t care to. It just annoyed him.


	6. Chapter 6

Kiyoko finally dragged Kuro and Kashikoi, kicking and screaming, to get new clothes. Their clothes were looking awful, and they always complained about how hot they were.

"If you’d wear lighter clothes, then you might not be having this problem," Kiyoko said, watching her brothers grumble as they were given clothes to try on. They would thank her later.

Kiyoko sighed and looked out the door. The noren was blowing softly in the breeze as townspeople wandered about their daily lives. This was much different from what their old village was like. They were getting used to it, though, or at least Kiyoko was starting to. The Senju had been so hospitable to them. It was just the other day that Hashirama himself had visited them to see how they were doing in their apartment. He was a very respectful, gregarious man, and he always seemed to have a smile on his face.

Kuro stepped out from behind the changing screen, sporting a simple dark blue top and standard pants. Kiyoko nodded, which meant that Kuro was going to buy it whether he liked it or not. Kashikoi stepped out wearing a tighter-fitting, short-sleeved dark green shirt, also with standard pants. Kiyoko nodded again, and the two brothers proceeded to buy their clothes.

"I was going to write to Mother and Father again tonight," Kiyoko said, as the three of them walked back to their apartment. "They’re sure taking their time to respond!"

"The mail is slow getting up there sometimes," Kuro said. "That’s what the man who was in charge of the mail said."

"I know," Kiyoko sighed. "They’ve probably got a lot on their hands. But we’ve got only two years until we can go back. We’ll get to show them how much we’ve grown then."

"Mom always said I was going to be as tall as you, Kuro," Kashikoi piped up, a huge grin on his face. Kuro shook his head.

"You’re nowhere near my height," he said, a smile on his face. Kashikoi’s shoulders dropped.

"I can dream, can’t I?" he said, clearly miffed. Just as he looked away, he saw a woman. "Well, look at that!"

"Kashi," Kiyoko said, rolling her eyes. She didn’t even bother punching him this time. He was going to do what he wanted, and she couldn’t stop him. Kuro and Kiyoko watched as he waltzed over to the young Uchiha woman, trying to make himself look as attractive as possible.

"Hello there," Kashikoi said, and the woman looked up in his direction. "I couldn’t help but notice how beautiful you looked, so I had to talk to you–!"

"Get away from me," the woman said in disgust, walking away from Kashikoi. "Filthy Ookami." Kashikoi was in disbelief.

"Are you kidding me?" he muttered, forcing himself to return back to his siblings.

"Don’t worry about it, Kashikoi," Kuro said, trying to get him to calm down.

"No," Kashikoi said. "That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. What does it matter if I’m an Ookami?"

Kiyoko said nothing. She glared in the direction of the woman for a moment, and then continued to walk ahead of her brothers.

"There’s nothing we can do about them," Kuro said. "It’s not worth fighting over."

"Do I look like I’m fighting anyone?" Kashikoi said bitterly. "I should be able to talk to someone I find attractive without having to worry about my surname being repulsive to them."

"Well, then look at Senju women, Kashi," Kiyoko said emotionlessly, and both brothers looked up at her. She was pulling their apartment door open. Kashikoi sighed and walked ahead of Kuro into the apartment. Kiyoko laid a hand on Kuro’s shoulder as he passed through the door, giving him a look of sympathy. There was nothing they could do now. Being aggressive, they knew, would get them nowhere. Their sensei was right when he said those things. But the problem was, their sensei was an Uchiha as well, so he couldn’t think too highly of their clan either.

* * *

Kiyoko decided to leave their apartment after a short time. Her brothers were either napping or watching television, and she wanted some fresh air. It was late afternoon, almost evening. She had to do something with the rest of her day.

She stepped outside of their apartment after saying a quick goodbye to her brothers, and proceeded to stroll the up and down streets of Konoha. She eventually made it to the Academy building. She strolled past the education part, and made her way to the Administrative Building, where the Hokage’s office was. She looked up at the big kanji painted on the side of the building. "Fire" is what it said. She went inside.

"Kiyoko!" Hashirama beamed as she walked into his office. "How nice to see you! How are things going?"

"They’re going alright," she replied, sitting on the window sill to the left of his desk and looking out. Hashirama sighed.

"It’s a beautiful day out, isn’t it?" he said, admiring the view overlooking Konoha. Kiyoko nodded.

"How is your training going?" Hashirama asked, turning his attention towards Kiyoko again. She sighed and barely smiled.

"It’s going well," she said. "Much better than it was at the beginning. We didn’t know a whole lot when we first came here, even though we thought we did. Madara has been a good teacher. We’ve learned a lot since we got here."

"I’m glad," Hashirama said with a smile. He noticed the look on Kiyoko’s face wasn’t mirroring his own and began to wonder.

"Is there something wrong?" he asked quietly. Kiyoko turned her gaze towards him, her big eyes not allowing him to see through her front.

"No, nothing’s wrong," Kiyoko said, shaking her head and looking down. "I was just thinking." She looked back out the window, thoughtfully resting her head in her hand.

"What do you think of Ookami?" she asked him suddenly, looking back at him again. Hashirama looked at her with surprised expression, having clearly not expected that kind of question. He thought quietly for a moment, putting down the papers he was attending to.

"You and your brothers come from a long lineage of strength and power," he said, finally breaking the silence. "Your clan was feared for a long time, especially in my father’s younger days. When the Ookami began their downfall, it was only natural that the clans who remained strong showered your clan with criticism. The Ookami lost power and influence, and they became the example of what empty pride and overconfidence could do to a clan. It’s just how it was back then. Clans will take anything to elevate themselves in status.

"But now is a different time. I believe that the remaining Ookami are honorable and protective of their heritage. There are still people around who don’t hold Ookami in the highest opinion. But I am not one of those people. I believe your clan is honorable, respectful, humble, kind, and worthy of alliance with the Leaf Village."

Kiyoko got off the window sill, now able to sport a true, grateful smile.

" _ Arigatōgozaimasu _ ," she said, bowing respectfully as she did. It meant a lot to her that Hashirama would say such nice things about her clan.

"Why do you ask?" Hashirama inquired, and Kiyoko shook her head. She wasn’t going to tell him about what happened with the Uchiha woman earlier that day. She didn’t need to anymore. What Hashirama said made her feel a whole lot better. Besides, telling him wouldn’t change things. If anything, it would just cause a ruckus.

"I was just curious," she said. "Not everyone we come across agrees with you."

"I understand," he replied, nodding. He stood up from his desk and pushed his chair in. "I think I’m going to head home. It’s been a long day, that’s for sure." Suddenly his eyes lit up and he turned quickly back to his desk.

"I almost forgot!" he said, leafing through the papers on his desk until he came to a small card. He turned to Kiyoko again and handed her the piece of paper.

"I wanted to personally invite you and your brothers to attend my wedding!" he said, a squinted smile on his face. Kiyoko looked at the invitation in shock.

"You’re getting married?" she exclaimed. "To whom?"

"Her name is Mito Uzumaki," Hashirama beamed, a tiny blush appearing on his cheeks. "She’s a wonderful woman. I can’t wait for you to meet her. I think you two will get along well."

Kiyoko smiled. Hashirama was deserving of a good wife. He was a good man, himself.

"We’d be delighted to come!" she said, flashing a big smile at him. He was like a second father to her. No matter what she came to him with, he always seemed to have something to say that would brighten her day.

"That’s great!" he said, and he walked with her out of the building. This definitely made Kiyoko glad that she visited him.

"See you later!" he said, waving to her as they went their separate ways. Kiyoko waved back cheerfully. He was such a kind man. He always had a smile on his face. Kiyoko could only imagine that his wife-to-be would be just as kind. Wives were meant to bring balance to their husbands. Kiyoko had no clue what a balanced Hashirama looked like, but she would find out soon enough. She couldn’t wait to tell her brothers.


	7. Chapter 7

Kiyoko could tell that the closer they got to the wedding, the busier the Senju clan was becoming with preparations. It had been a month since she had received the invitation from Hashirama, and she had been seeing Hashirama less and less as time went on. She wasn’t sure what she and her siblings were going to do. They had planned on asking for guidance from the Senju in picking kimono to wear to the wedding, but it was obvious things weren’t going to happen that way. It was still just over a month away, but Kiyoko was insistent that she and her brothers get fitted for kimono soon.

The problem was that she didn’t know where formal kimono fittings were done. Even though they were adults, Kiyoko and her brothers were still young, and it was customary no matter where you lived that an elder came along as well. Kiyoko had hoped that the Senju would provide a chaperone for them, but the siblings never received word, which was understandable. On top of that, the Ookami didn’t know how spring worked. They always had winter kimono in their village because it was always cold. When it came to anything other than winter attire, the Ookami siblings had no idea what they were doing.

"Kiyoko," came a voice, knocking her out of her thoughts. Madara was waiting to train with her. Kiyoko stood, and Kashikoi sat down in her place, just having finished. Kiyoko was down to landing a hit on Madara in eight tries, but it had taken a long time to get there. Kuro was at eight as well, and Kashikoi was at nine. Kiyoko took up her stance, totally focused.

"Begin!" came the command, and Kiyoko began trying to read Madara’s eyes. Sometimes she could predict where he was going by looking at his eyes and his feet. But it was dangerous to look an Uchiha in the eye. Over the past few months of their training, Madara had begun integrating defensive retaliation into their training, whereas before, he would only dodge. Now, the siblings had to be careful of Madara’s attacks, as well as predict his strategy.

"Three. Four, fi–!" Madara was cut off as Kiyoko landed a punch right in his jaw. He flipped himself over and landed a few yards away before standing and brushing himself off. Kuro smiled in praise for his sister.

"Nice!" Kashikoi exclaimed, standing up from his spot on the ground. Kiyoko didn’t make an effort to smile.

"Well done," Madara said, coming back over to where his pupils were gathered. "That was a big jump. You’re improving much more rapidly than I had anticipated."

"Thank you for the praise, but I’m not good enough yet," Kiyoko replied, still serious. She didn’t react to Madara’s comments defensively anymore. She knew now that they weren’t intended to be offensive. "My next goal is four, but I’m really aiming for one every time."

Kiyoko’s rapid progression surprised Madara more than he displayed. It seemed that one moment, she was just an immature, whiney child, and the next, she was focused and serious. All of a sudden, she had jumped through hoops he didn’t think she would even be able to see within two years, let alone seven months. Not only had she become stronger, but she had become faster, strategical, and now, more mature than he thought her to be capable of. He’d never seen a mature version of Kiyoko. Perhaps training Ookami wasn’t all that bad.

That training session ended quickly. Madara had a meeting to go to in the afternoon, so he dismissed his students at lunchtime. He made his way over to the tree where he had placed his armor before their training session that morning. The armor had recently been distributed to all Konoha shinobi, making them all have some unity in how they looked. It was merely an effort to make the village look more united than it really was. Madara didn’t care for the false aspect behind it, but it was red, which he did like about it. Red was a good, strong color, which reflected the idea of the Will of Fire nicely.

The armor was too heavy for him to wear while simply sparring, and it defeated the purpose of developing his pupils’ taijutsu for him to wear body armor anyway. He bent down and picked up the main piece that went over his torso and shoulders, reattaching the part that went around his chest. He turned to pick up the smaller parts that went around his waist, but they weren’t where he left them. He turned a little further and looked up to see that Kiyoko had appeared behind him, and was holding up the last few pieces of his armor, head slightly bowed in respect. He liked that kind of respect, but he was quite sure he was entitled to it starting at a much earlier point in time than now.

She held the armor out to him as he finished securing the part around his torso.

" _ Arigatō, _ " he said lowly, taking the last few pieces and quickly securing them at his sides. She replied with a quiet " _ dōitashimashite _ ," but Madara could read her eyes, which were filled with purpose. He finished securing his armor and gave her his attention.

"May I ask a favor of you, sensei?" she inquired, her voice coming out with more volume this time.

" _ Nan desu ka? _ " he asked, unmoved by the purposeful tone in her voice. He wanted to get out of the sun and into a nice, cool meeting hall.

"Would you attend my brothers and me to get fitted for our kimono for Hashirama’s wedding?" she asked. She was prepared for a solid no, seeing that he didn’t seem to be the type that would like to attend kimono fittings, but she was going to present valid reasons for him to come. "Ordinarily, the Senju would be doing that, but since they’re so busy with the wedding, we don’t have a chaperone. And we really don’t know what we’re doing when it comes to spring kimonos. Or weddings."

"And you suppose that I do," he said, heaving a deep sigh. Kiyoko still had more guilt-trip tactics up her sleeve. Madara wouldn’t be an easy target. She’d come prepared though.

"We value your judgement, sensei," she pushed, and he looked away, still fighting for an excuse. He didn’t fight for as long as she thought he would, though.

"Fine," he said finally, giving in. "I need to get one, myself. I don’t tend to own such expensive clothing." Kiyoko’s face brightened up at the victory instantly.

" _ Dōmo arigatōgozaimasu! _ " she said, smiling so brightly that it almost startled Madara. He didn’t know that bright of a smile even existed, but it had clearly manifested right before his eyes. He didn’t think this favor was all that big of a deal. He muttered a quick " _ dōitashimashite _ " and excused himself for his meeting, wanting to get out of there as quickly as possible.

As Madara went off about his business, Kiyoko headed back to where her brothers were eating their packed lunches in the shade, a triumphant smirk on her face.

"What did he say?" asked Kashikoi, both brothers anxiously waiting for her response.

"He said yes, of course," Kiyoko said, shrugging her shoulders. "Didn’t I tell you I could get him to do it?"

"Sensei’s not fooled that easily," Kuro said with a laugh. Kiyoko shook her head.

"I didn’t fool him at all," she said as-a-matter-of-fact-ly. "I’m just a master in the art of persuasion."

"You certainly are," Kuro said, shuddering at all the times she violently persuaded them in the past. Kashikoi turned pale at the thought, and Kiyoko rolled her eyes, ignoring them and sitting down to eat as well.

"He’ll be getting fitted as well," she said, taking a bite of her rice ball. "So he had a reason to go anyway."

"Well, at least now we don’t have to go by ourselves," Kuro sighed, relieved. The others agreed. "That would be awkward."

"Kashi would end up getting a gaudy kimono if we did," Kiyoko laughed, and Kashikoi sat up defensively.

"No, I would not!" he said, but then he changed his mind, a grin forming on his face. "Unless it would attract the attention of any good looking women."

"Only you, Kashi," Kiyoko laughed.

"You bet," he said, smiling proudly.

* * *

Madara made it back to the Uchiha estate quickly. The sun was coming to an angle in the sky that was dreadfully hot, but he didn’t have all that far to go to get to the shade of the meeting, which was held in his house.

His servants had left the  _ shoji _ doors open to the courtyard so that the gentle breeze could cool down the room. Madara really wanted to take off his armor as well. It was heavy and much too hot to be worn for long periods of time.

After the servants relieved him of the armor, he made his way to the room where clan meetings were held. Most of the clansmen were already inside, talking about this and that. He entered, bowed to the whole congregation in greeting as well as a few particular people, and found his usual spot on the  _ tatami _ mat. Soon thereafter, the meeting commenced.

As head of the clan, Madara was entitled to the final say on most matters. Generally, he dealt with domestic issues, war measures (although now he had to converse with Hashirama on that as well before making anything official), accepting announcements of marriage and engagement within the clan, and other matters, many of which Madara found to be highly trivial. He never acted like it, though. He always portrayed himself with a stone-faced seriousness in all of his meetings with the clan. Most of the time, however, he found that the clan was not tackling many of the real issues at hand, and were instead focusing on the smallest annoyances they could probe for.

Nothing monumental really happened in the first half hour of any meeting. Usually there was only talk about a marriage or engagement, the selling price of goods, crop seasons, the validity of livestock in another village, and the likewise. Occasionally, there was a minor dispute that Madara would have to settle, but nothing of outrageous importance to the clan was ever shot into the breeze.

Then, the more serious matters came out. These were the things that Madara believed actually mattered to the well-being of the clan, and the first thing to catch fire in heated debate that afternoon happened to be the Ookami presence in the village.

"This village is made up prominently of Uchiha and Senju," said one Uchiha, and Madara didn’t really keep track of who said what. He just kept track of what was being said. Everyone had the same opinion on this topic anyway.

"Outsiders shouldn’t be having contact with our clan."

"They’re dangerous to our traditions, and to our safety."

"I don’t believe they should even be training within our clan, much less under our clan’s leader. Think of how powerful they could become. Think of how much information they could potentially obtain through an alliance like that!"

"They could easily steal many techniques of ours!"

"Not only that, but they could come across military intel very easily if we let them get too close."

"They’re already too close! All they need is to become too powerful!"

"They’re already training with one of the best, and they could be too powerful right this moment!"

"They’re returning to their village in almost a year, and think of how they could build up their clan with this new knowledge!"

Then, everyone looked at Madara expectantly. Everything they wanted to say had been said. Now, it was Madara’s turn to find a mediation point.

"The Ookami clan has no hope of revival," he began, tackling the thing he found to be the easiest to tackle. "Their numbers as of now are minimal, and as of lately, they haven’t made it a custom to intermarry, seeing that they really don’t have many distant relatives to do so with." A bit of the tension eased, but there was still much left to address. Madara continued.

"As far as their abilities, they have been slowly improving. They’ve taken some jumps in ability, but there is no reason to become alarmed because of that. I’ve been instructing them carefully, so that their highest levels of ability can in no way surmount that of our best clansmen and myself, individually or combined. They are not, and will never be, physically capable of taking down our entire clan, nor will they ever be mentally. They’re not mature enough for that kind of thought, and they have no reason to do so either. I’ve been observing them closely for such behavior and have found nothing indicating any thoughts of taking over the Uchiha clan or stealing any intel we may have."

When Madara finished, nobody said anything for a moment. He hoped that his words hadn’t created any new problems. After everyone digested what was just said, there didn’t seem to be any disagreements with what he said, and the tension in the room slowly dispersed. The problem was taken care of for the moment. Madara knew that new issues with the Ookami were bound to come up. The Ookami were simply disliked. The main issue at hand branched from the disgust the Uchiha held toward the Ookami, but its source was also legitimate. Clan safety was definitely something to be worried about. The issues after that were going to become more and more trivial.

Over time, Madara had found himself becoming more and more accustomed to the Ookami presence. They hadn’t been causing any trouble to speak of during their stay, and generally they had been learning quickly on the idea of respect. It was evident that their clan had some order, more so than the Uchiha gave them credit for (usually labeling them as nearly barbaric in nature and manner). They were seemingly far from the crudeness that Uchiha had identified them with in teaching their young warriors, and were reaching almost a comfortable level for Madara. He could easily regard them as his students now without cringing on the inside, and he was also beginning to read them as a teacher reads his students, rather than as potential threats. They weren’t exactly Ookami juveniles anymore, they were just juveniles that happened to be Ookami, and they were slowly inching toward being less juvenile and more adult. They were maturing rapidly, and he found that the more they matured, the more charming they could actually be, although normally, as a male, he wouldn’t give other men such a title as charming. Usually, that title was given exclusively, but very impersonally, to women.


	8. Chapter 8

Kiyoko was thankful that Madara knew more than he admitted when it came to formal kimono. Right away, he took the siblings to a humble shop just a stone’s throw away from Konoha’s center of commerce. The shop was filled with small, older women who were quiet, but, as the siblings (and Madara, to his dismay) found out, very eager to fit their customers. As bluntly as a sweet older lady could ask questions, so did the head seamstress to Kiyoko.

"Are you married, ma’am?" asked the woman, and Kiyoko, for some reason, began to feel her face redden in embarrassment. She quickly dismissed this awkward feeling for long enough to answer the seamstress with a quiet "no." One should expect to be asked those kinds of questions when being fitted for a kimono. Kiyoko didn’t know a whole lot about weddings, but she knew that much, and she mentally slapped herself for being so embarrassed about such a simple question. Naturally, unmarried female guests of a wedding wore brighter-colored kimono, as opposed to the more bland color scheme that men and older or married women wore. Everybody knew that, whether they had ever attended a wedding or not. Why did that question bother her then? It wasn’t as though the presence of her brothers bothered her. They knew she wasn’t married. She didn’t care if they knew she wasn’t married. They were her brothers. They didn’t care that she wasn’t married.

Madara was her sensei, so he couldn’t care about that. But it wasn’t a matter of anyone else caring, now was it? It was a matter of Kiyoko caring. She mentally rolled her eyes at herself. Why would she possibly care about anyone in the room knowing that?

As she pondered this in the back of her mind, she watched as the older ladies took care of her brothers and Madara, asking questions of them as well, although none of them seemed at all embarrassing. Perhaps it was because she was always conscious of herself around Madara, simply because she wanted to prove herself worthy of being instructed by him. She wanted him to see her as a strong kunoichi. He was starting to, though. So, why did she suddenly feel so exposed to him? He didn’t seem to care whether she was married or not. She doubted that he would label her as weak because she wasn’t married. She was quite independent, and he recognized that. If that wasn’t the reason Kiyoko was so bothered by the question, then what was?

Madara was taken back to be fitted first. There were definitely more old ladies as a whole than there were just in the front of the shop. As Madara was taken to a curtained room to be fitted, about a dozen of them followed him, carrying pieces of several kimono with them. The annoyed look on Madara’s face brought a smile to Kiyoko, almost making her laugh, until she got another awkward feeling. She didn’t have much time to ponder over it, though, because more of the fitting ladies quickly came from the back to drag her off for her fitting as well.

Behind the curtain in her fitting room, Kiyoko had a little pedestal to stand on, a large mirror, and a table for all the kimono she was about to try on. This was going to take a while.

The ladies began undressing her, and since she wasn’t wearing a _hadajuban_ appropriate for kimono, they provided her with one. Kiyoko had seen herself in _hadajuban_ before, but that was when she was much younger. She didn’t look at herself in the mirror too much either; only as much as a regular person would. She usually didn’t have anyone to impress.

Usually: that was the word that changed everything. She normally didn’t have to worry about impressing anyone  _ aesthetically _ speaking. There; that was what she meant. She didn’t have to worry about that too much most of the time. She was normally confident that she was at least handsome in some respect, but she wasn’t exactly striving to be beautiful by any means. She was very fair skinned, which earned her some points, but she had never actually studied herself in a full length mirror like this. As much as she wanted to be considered a woman, she had always imagined herself as a child. Nobody had really treated her like a woman until today when the seamstress asked her if she was married. She didn’t have to worry about being beautiful if she was only a kid. But suddenly, when she looked in the mirror, she realized that it didn’t really matter how other people treated her so much as it did how she truly viewed herself, and she had never totally seen a woman when she looked at herself until now.

And now, she was beginning to see what that feeling meant to her. She wasn’t just embarrassed that she wasn’t married. She wasn’t embarrassed for that to be made public. She was just being treated like a woman when she felt like a child. She didn’t know how to take it. She must have expected to be asked what color she wanted her kimono to be rather than if she was married. It was inherently the same question, but one was from a child’s perspective, and the latter was from a woman’s perspective. And now, she knew even more of this feeling.

The ladies were almost done dressing her in the first kimono. They only had to tie the _obi_ in place. Another woman was standing on a stool to pull her out of her face and to the side. These women believed they were dressing a young woman, and indeed they were. The kimono wasn’t all that fancy. It was closer in hem to a _yukata_ , but it was still beautiful, and it looked very mature. It was navy blue, and spotted with small light blue flowers, then bigger and more elaborate yellow flowers. The _obi_ was green and a light red, pulling everything together evenly.

The ladies then opened the curtain for a showing, something Kiyoko did not expect, but was entirely open to. She stepped off the little pedestal and out of the room. Kuro studied her quietly for a moment, taking in the picture before him, which was clearly different from what he was used to seeing. Then, without saying a word, his gesture of approval was manifested through a crooked grin playing across his lips. He nodded lightly at his sister, and Kashikoi, looking at Kuro and then Kiyoko, flashed his smile of approval as well. But it was apparent that the old ladies didn’t bring her out just for her brothers to see her. They were being chaperoned by a man of high status, and his approval mattered more to the ladies than anyone else’s in the room.

When Kiyoko turned to face Madara, she saw he was wearing a nice looking kimono as well. It was a traditional men’s kimono, which already looked regal on a hanger, but it looked astoundingly good when a man wore it. Madara was almost 40, which was hard for Kiyoko to believe sometimes. The more she thought about it, the more it seemed like Madara didn’t look his age. He definitely acted his age, but there was no way that she could think of someone so much older than her as attractive if they didn’t at least look closer to her age.

She had already figured it out. It made her slightly nervous, but she had already figured it out. She knew who she was trying to impress. She had always been trying to impress him. And now, this was her sudden shot at trying to impress him in a way neither of them had remotely anticipated.

Madara was a respectable man. It seemed that everything that crossed his path was beneath him. Certainly he was not flawless, but there were few times when something got the better of him. Normally, those times came unexpectedly, but he was able to address them quickly and responsibly, in such a way that they would not ever best him again. He knew how the political world worked, and he knew how wars worked. He knew how people worked and he knew how cities worked. He knew how fights worked and he knew how clan meetings worked. He even knew how kimono fittings, households, and cooking worked, which were arguably women’s trade.

But he did not know, out of all of his knowledge of the logical world, how romance worked. He hadn’t cared to know how it worked. Romance wasn’t used in combat. Coquetry wasn’t used to outwit political enemies. A quickened heartbeat wouldn’t fend off the biting questions at clan meetings. And try as he might, Madara had absolutely no clue how to deal with all of these emotions that suddenly flooded his brain when he looked upon Kiyoko, this woman in a spring kimono that a week ago he had so nonchalantly dubbed as "charming."

He’d never had problems with looking at women in kimono before. He’d seen women in kimono every day of his adult life and not once had they given him any problem. But now, he was looking right at his own student and feeling something. He didn’t like it. He didn’t like that he couldn’t make these feelings go away, and he didn’t like that he didn’t know what they meant. He could barely conceal what was happening inside his head. Why was this so different?

It wasn’t that the kimono was exceptionally beautiful. He didn’t really care about fabric to begin with. He knew what looked right and what looked wrong, and nothing seemed to look wrong to him. But it wasn’t the kimono, and he knew that very well. He wanted it to be the kimono so he could brush off the whole thing, but that would not solve the problem at hand.

Was it the fact that her skin was so fair? Perhaps. She definitely appeared to be more aristocratic than she actually was. She had a smaller build as well, but she was matured enough to be called a young woman. He could admit that she was pretty. Or he could not admit that and be just fine with himself. But if he admitted that much, perhaps the feeling would subside?

Yes, perhaps it would. This was probably what Hashirama was talking about months ago: the conversation that he promised never to bring up again that had kept replaying in Madara’s mind every time he looked at Kiyoko. He had figured it would go away eventually, but annoyingly enough, it had remained, repeating itself clear as day, over and over:  _ "But you have to admit, she is beautiful." _

Why did this still bother him? Madara hated this. Did he have to come to terms with it in order for it to go away? He could admit that she was beautiful, but he would only make such a statement impersonally. Naturally, it was a compliment, but he didn’t go around telling women they were beautiful. They could find some other imbecile to do that for them. He wasn’t about to say that to Kiyoko either.

But the feeling didn’t go away. And he wanted to tear his own head off. Why was this happening to him, out of all respectable men? Why did he have to deal with such trivial things? Why was this so damn confusing? He’d never run across anything like this in his life. The one thing he could truly admit from his heart was that she was charming. Beauty didn’t matter to him in all honesty. Without having someone like Hashirama try and coax it from him, Madara had already admitted to himself that he found her charming, although completely without the intention of suggesting any kind of deeper meaning. Maybe he was lying to himself a little bit. He could give her more credit. She was a woman in the sense that she could make a kimono look exceptionally beautiful. But he would much quicker say that he considered her to be a woman merely because the more time he spent with her, training her and teaching her, the more genuinely he admitted to himself that she was quite likeable.

Too deep in thought to keep track of his actions, Madara noticed Kiyoko look away from him, when she had formerly been studying his attire as well. He hadn’t realized that he was staring, and quickly composed himself, looking off at the head seamstress, who gave a quick nod and ushered Kiyoko back into her fitting room. He was soon ushered back into his own fitting room, where he refused to try on any more kimono. He liked this one just fine, so he would get it, and he liked the kimono Kiyoko was wearing. He didn’t really have any particular reasoning behind it. If a kimono looked nice on someone, they should get it, and that’s all there was to it.

Madara decided to remain aloof for the rest of the fitting. He was getting a bit antsy in that shop, partially because of the episode he had just had, and partially because of the amount of elderly ladies that were in the shop at once. He didn’t like the fact that he had been surrounded by them in his fitting room, and he could only imagine how awkward Kuro and Kashikoi must have felt while being fitted for their own kimono. He watched from a distance as each of Kiyoko’s brothers presented what they were wearing to her for approval. Every time the brothers came out, the head seamstress would look over at Madara, who nodded in approval. The fitting didn’t last for too long, which was exactly the way Madara preferred it. One didn’t need to waste their time meddling in kimono when the first one they tried on was fine. It just made things much easier and much smoother.

Kiyoko was pleased with how her brothers looked in their kimono. These women certainly knew what they were doing. But the whole time, in the back of her mind, all she could think about was the piercing gaze that Madara held on her as he studied her kimono. She held back the witty comment she wanted to make. She turned away in embarrassment, and he must have realized what he was doing and regained his composure. She was glad that she had done that, although she wasn’t sure how successful her attempt at impressing him was. And she couldn’t shake that feeling of his eyes upon her like that. He had observed her before, but always as a student: never as a woman. Did he even look at her like that? She didn’t know for sure, but he had a different look in his eye.

The fitting ladies came out of the dressing rooms with the kimono that Kuro and Kashikoi had tried on first. Kiyoko really liked those kimono on them. She stood up from the chair she was sitting on and glanced back at Madara, who was at the front of the store. He was quite distant now. Perhaps her actions had no real effect on him. He seemed to be unmoved. She tried not to let it get to her and turned back to address her brothers.

"I thought this was going to take hours," Kashikoi said, thoroughly surprised. "Considering that  _ you  _ were coming along." He gestured at Kiyoko, who rolled her eyes.

"Oh, come on," she said. "I liked the ones you tried on first."

"So?" Kuro snickered, egging Kashikoi on. "Women can’t just stop after the first kimono. Even if they like it, they have to see if they like the next one even better."

"I didn’t do any of that!" Kiyoko said, crossing her arms. "So, you’re getting those two?"

"Yeah," said the brothers in unison, and Kiyoko nodded, pulling out her change purse. Their parents had given them quite a bit of money for their stay, figuring that a more luxurious village would require more spending money. Kiyoko believed her parents were much too generous with the money they sent with the siblings. She was quite sure that was most of the money they had. But they wouldn’t take no for an answer and sent them on their way, change purses filled.

She turned towards the front of the store where the register was and saw that Madara was gone. A confused look appeared on her face. She walked up to the counter.

"Where did our chaperone go?" she asked the head seamstress.

"He said he had business to attend to," the lady replied. "Your kimono are wrapped and ready to go." She pushed a big bag containing the siblings’ kimono, all wrapped up and neatly boxed, across the counter. Kiyoko nodded and opened her change purse.

"So mine was ¥40,000 and theirs were both––" she began, trying to pull together the proper amount, but the older lady interrupted her.

"Excuse me, but your dues have already been paid," she said.


	9. Chapter 9

"Excuse me, but your dues have already been paid," she said, with a small smile. Kiyoko was dumbfounded. She looked at her brothers in disbelief, and then at the seamstress.

"I’m sorry," she finally stammered. "But there has to be a mistake. We haven’t paid for our kimono yet."

"But they have been paid for," said the seamstress politely. "Don’t you know? It is customary for the chaperone to pay all the dues of the party they are attending."

"What?" said all three siblings in unison. They couldn’t believe it. Madara had just paid for their kimono?!

"That’s impossible!" said Kiyoko, shaking her head nervously. "He couldn’t have! He just paid an extra ¥110,000 out of pocket?!"

"That is the tradition here in Konoha," replied the seamstress.

"But we didn’t ask him to do that!" Kiyoko protested. "We just asked him if he would come along and—!"

"Listen here," said the seamstress very lowly, so that only the siblings could hear. "When a respectable man like Uchiha Madara pays in full for your kimono, you thank him and do nothing else. Do not dishonor him by trying to repay him. Just thank him for his generosity and be honored by that."

The siblings said nothing. Then, slowly, they bowed in thanks to the seamstress and exited the shop, taking their kimono with them. The siblings quickly went back to their apartment to discuss what just happened.

"I cannot believe that he did that!" Kiyoko said, still in disbelief. "I never asked him to do that! I just asked him if he could come with us!"

"The lady said it was just a custom," Kuro said, trying to find some reasonable explanation.

"But I can’t believe that he would just do that on a whim!" Kiyoko said, clearly flustered. She was in utter disbelief. She couldn’t digest what just happened.

"And now we’re indebted to him," Kashikoi said. Kuro sighed. He couldn’t disagree with that too easily. He was still trying to think of something.

"What are we going to do?" Kiyoko asked quietly, about ready to pull her hair out from all the stress that had just come upon them all at once. Nobody said anything for a while. Then, Kuro finally spoke.

"I suppose all we can do is thank him," he said with a sigh. Kiyoko looked up at him with an unsure look on her face. She was so confused right now. Kuro couldn’t read past the confusion, but he knew that the three of them shouldn’t worry themselves over it. What was done was done. He looked outside at the sky. The sun had set, and the clouds were colored a deep purple and red along the horizon. It was getting late.

"Let’s all just go to bed now," he said, trying to relieve some of the tension. "We can figure out how to handle this tomorrow. But for now, we all need to rest. Stressing out about this is not going to do us any good."

Kashikoi nodded and Kiyoko turned toward her _futon_ without saying a word. She was very confused. Why did he do that? She never asked him to. He never said that was a custom. Even if it was a custom, he wasn’t exactly their official chaperone. She would have understood if the Senju had paid for their kimono. The Senju were hosting the siblings and providing for their housing needs. But the Uchiha were not. Madara was not the type to go around spending money on people anyway, and although he and the siblings were getting along better, she couldn’t see Madara making such a financial sacrifice for them. They were only his students.

And she couldn’t help but think of how Madara had looked at her when she stepped out from her dressing room. She had never been looked at like that by a man. It gave her a strange feeling. She didn’t understand that either. She was trying to impress him, but the attention he gave her in those moments almost made her wish that she hadn’t tried to impress him. She wasn’t really trying to do anything outrageous, though. She was just standing there in a kimono.

The seamstress had been looking at her a lot when she spoke to the siblings. It was almost as if the lady had been talking to her the whole time, and not her brothers. Was she trying to hint something? Had Madara really been impressed by the kimono Kiyoko was wearing? He certainly wouldn’t have bought it if he didn’t like it, and he wouldn’t have bought her brothers’ kimono if he didn’t like them as well.

She didn’t know. All she knew was that she was tired, and she didn’t know what had just happened today. She closed her eyes and tried to block everything out as best she could.


	10. Chapter 10

Hashirama’s wedding was in ten days. The Senju were overloaded with the wedding’s final preparations. One could not speak to a member of the Senju clan for more than a minute before they had to run off to do something for the wedding. This wedding had to be perfect, not only because Hashirama and Mito wanted it to be, but because this marriage formed an alliance between the Senju and Uzumaki clans, as well as between Konohagakure and Uzushiogakure, the Village Hidden by Whirlpools.

Because the Senju were so busy with preparations, Hashirama decided to send Madara and his students on their first mission as a team of sorts. The mission was simple: Iwagakure (the Village Hidden by Rocks), in respect of their newly founded alliance with Konoha, offered to provide supplies for the wedding. Hashirama believed that it was only appropriate to accept their offer and reaffirm their alliance with Iwagakure by sending ambassadors to personally accept their gift; after which, said ambassadors were to safely transport it back to Konoha in time for the wedding.

Today was the day that the siblings and their sensei would be leaving to embark on their mission. Kiyoko and her brothers were quite excited about this. They would soon be able to see even more of the ninja world. They had no idea what the Earth Country was like. On top of that, Hashirama had given them the task of an ambassador, which was a very high honor and its duties were to be carried out with the upmost care. They were going to be the face of Konoha to the leaders of Iwagakure, which was extremely important. The fact that Hashirama trusted Madara Uchiha with this task was surely a given, but the fact that Hashirama trusted the siblings was very humbling, while also elevating to their status. Hashirama, the head of the Senju clan, as well as the head of Konoha, trusted them with the reputation of the village. This was monumental to the Ookami siblings.

Their trek to Iwagakure took about three days. The sights along the way were beautiful. Mountains skirted the horizon ahead of them, while from the east to the west, the sun danced furiously across the sky each passing day. The foliage progressively became smaller the further north they trekked, but its diminutiveness did not slight the awe the Ookami siblings regarded it with.

But when they finally reached Iwagakure, it was an entirely different picture altogether. Surrounded by rocky mountains, the city was made primarily of stone and clay. It was different from Konoha, but its citizens still bustled about their daily lives just as those in Konoha did. Their village leader, the Tsuchikage, greeted the siblings and Madara with a warm eagerness.

Kiyoko was astounded by everything she was seeing, and rushed to soak it all up. She had no idea that there were so many villages that were all different from each other. Seeing Konohagakure in all of its brilliance for the first time was amazing enough, but now that she saw Iwagakure, she was entirely blown away again.

Along with that, she felt even more like she was an adult because Hashirama considered she and her brothers ambassadors along with Madara, which meant that in the eyes of Iwagakure, all four of them were considered political equals.

Lord Mū was the Second Tsuchikage. He was tall and bandaged seemingly from the top of his head to the very tips of his toes -- all of his face except for his eyes and nose. He also wore a dark gray  _ yukata _ -like robe overtop all of the bandages. He was very regal when he welcomed the four from Konoha, and was pleased to make the acquaintance of every ambassador.

Kiyoko was thoroughly enjoying this, and as were her siblings. Their faces glowed with a youthful energy and excitement that seemed to light up the room. But when she glanced at Madara, she noticed that he didn’t seem to share in that same enthusiasm. In fact, he looked as if he didn’t want to be there at all. He didn’t look pleased at all, but it only showed in his eyes. How Kiyoko came to read his emotions through his eyes, she had no clue, but she could tell he wasn’t in the best of moods, and she couldn’t imagine why. He didn’t exactly display a happy-go-lucky attitude, but he generally wasn’t this irritated, especially during business.

The siblings really didn’t know how to handle the alliance business, and were given the task of accepting Iwagakure’s gift to Konoha instead, leaving Madara in conversation with Lord Mū . The Iwa shinobi graciously provided a mule-drawn wagon to transport the supplies back to Konoha with, and soon, Madara and the siblings were on their way back south. They decided to set up camp for the night a few miles outside of Iwagakure in the shelter of a forest, and it was agreed upon that the four would continue their trek back to Konoha at sunrise the next morning. With that, Kiyoko and her siblings set up their sleeping bags and went to sleep, while Madara volunteered to stand watch in a nearby tree.

* * *

Kiyoko awoke to the sound of faint conversation. At first, she thought it was a dream, but she opened her eyes more when she smelled the smoke of a dying fire. She looked around. Their campfire had barely any coals now. Her brothers were still sleeping like rocks, but Madara was not in his tree. She quietly slipped out of her sleeping bag and used her ookami seal to transform herself into a wolf to investigate more silently.

Nobody was or had been around their campsite that she could make note of. But she could still hear distant voices, so she decided to follow that sound.

She prowled through the forest silently, trying to avoid being detected. She had gotten quite good at sneaking as of lately. As she noticed she was coming to a clearing, she concealed her chakra so that it would seem distant to any sensory ninja.

The clearing appeared to house a shrine of sorts. There were no surrounding buildings, but the shrine itself was sheltered by some kind of stone architecture like that of the edifices of Iwagakure. There were lanterns lit all down its sides, and Kiyoko was glad for that because the moon was not out tonight due to the clouds, and she wouldn’t have been able to see much of anything.

She almost wished she hadn’t thought that, because right as she reached the clearing, she saw something she wished she had never seen. Safely concealed from view and detection in the bushes, she observed as two men, one of whom was the Tsuchikage, were conversing with Madara, who was standing on the steps of the shrine. The Tsuchikage wasn’t speaking, but the man who was with him was. He was short, and had a funny looking nose: possibly an apprentice.

"Why?" stammered the shorter man, and Kiyoko’s ears perked up as she tried to listen in further. "That’s not the agreement! Lord Hashirama said—!"

"There is no alliance," Madara interrupted him coldly, his Sharingan activated. "Just obey the Hidden Leaf! And,"—he closed his eyes, and Kiyoko knew immediately what was going to happen—"Never mention that shinobi’s name before me again!"

Madara’s eyes shot open, but something else happened that Kiyoko hadn’t expected. All of a sudden, Madara made a hand sign and yelled, "Susano’o!", and blue chakra enveloped his body, massing and growing until it had formed a large skeleton that was taller than the shrine. It roared, smashing the front of the shrine and creating a massive cloud of dust. Kiyoko shielded her eyes from the dust and ducked down closer to the ground, fearing that Madara would sense her, but he didn’t seem to.

The bodies of the Tsuchikage and his apprentice flew backward out of the dust, landing hard on the ground several yards away from where they’d been standing. Kiyoko was utterly shocked. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. The siblings and Madara had  _ just _ reaffirmed Konoha’s alliance with Iwa, and now her own sensei was dishonoring that alliance and harming the Tsuchikage?!

She was thinking about stepping out from the bushes, when she saw the Tsuchikage’s apprentice still moving. He glared sharply at Madara, but Madara didn’t appear to be threatened by this and seemingly absorbed the giant chakra skeleton into his body. The apprentice struggled to grab a piece of nearby rubble and shakily stood up, staggering toward Madara with the rock clenched in his fist. He looked absolutely infuriated.

"Seems you still want to keep dancing," Madara said, narrowing his eyes. Kiyoko held her breath. This ninja wouldn’t stand a chance. She was afraid for him, but she was frozen in place. She had never seen this side of her sensei before.

"But there’s no strength left in your step!" Madara added, closing his eyes again. Kiyoko gasped silently, as if she were about to yell to the Iwa shinobi to warn him, but no words dared to escape her lips.

As soon as Madara activated his Sharingan’s genjutsu, the apprentice froze, dropping the stone and falling straight to the ground, out cold.

Kiyoko could not believe what she just witnessed. Something inside her told her to run and get back to the camp before Madara noticed her presence because if she stayed, he undoubtedly would sense her. But there was another small part of her that burned with fury, something that made her feel very angry deep inside. She was torn between the two, until she saw Madara making his way down the shrine steps towards the bodies of the two Iwa shinobi.

Before she even had a chance to think twice, Kiyoko was standing in her wolf form between Madara and the unconscious body of the apprentice. Madara halted the moment he saw her, a surprised look in his eye, but it was short-lived, for he narrowed his eyes in displeasure.

"What do you think you’re doing?" he said lowly, staring straight through her, and Kiyoko felt from him another kind of intense stare.

"I could ask you the same question," she growled back at him, asserting that she was not going to move aside by sending him the same glare.

"If you were wise, you wouldn’t be meddling in the business of those superior to you," he said, and that was her cue to leave, but that feeling deep down inside of her only grew. Her displeasure seemed to seethe from her in response.

"And," he added. "You wouldn’t be eavesdropping on conversations that have nothing to do with you." So, he did sense her presence somehow. Kiyoko mentally winced, but something in what he said had sparked her indignation.

"Nothing to do with me?" she repeated in an exasperated tone, and broke the transmutation seal, transforming back into a human. "I don’t need to be the head of my clan for this to have anything to do with me. It has _ everything _ to do with me!"

"You should watch your tongue," Madara warned lowly, but Kiyoko was on fire by now. Her temper was flaring dangerously, but she had it under control. She had learned how to control it over the past seven months thanks to Madara.

"I may not have your status," Kiyoko said sharply, unfazed by the Uchiha’s warning. "But I am just as much a citizen of Konoha as you are, and  _ this" _ —she thrust back her arm in allusion to the fallen shinobi behind her—"is  _ not _ diplomacy."

"You think," Madara said slowly, his gaze dangerously intense upon Kiyoko. "That because Hashirama sent you and your brothers along as diplomats, you stand on equal ground as me? I will inform you of something that may very well save your pathetic dung pile of a life: you _ are _ not, nor will you  _ ever _ be, my equal. Do not make the mistake of believing that. And do not live under the false security that I will not kill you simply because I am your sensei. I have my personal honor to uphold."

Kiyoko said nothing for a moment, only able to return Madara’s gaze. Then, she slowly brought her hand up in front of her, visibly releasing chakra around it. "And I have mine."

She proceeded to turn away from Madara, and bent down to heal the apprentice before doing the same with the Tsuchikage, who was lying a few yards away. She only healed them enough so that they would wake up later with minor injuries. The whole time, Madara did not make any attempt to stop her. He didn’t say a word to her, and she didn’t say a word to him either. She could not put words to her anger towards him. She and her brothers never should have agreed to do this mission. They never should have thanked him for buying their kimono; not if he was going to do this. She should have never woken up. She should have stayed in the camp.

No. She did what she should have done. Madara was wise, but he was not always right. She knew that. She just had to stand her own ground now. She would not be afraid.

When she finished, she stood and silently made her way back to camp. The next morning, she refused to even speak to Madara, keeping her distance by walking beside the mules in order to guide them. Her brothers never knew of the incident, and had no idea why Kiyoko was avoiding their sensei. So, from Iwa all the way back to Konoha, it was an uncomfortably quiet three days.


	11. Chapter 11

Naturally, Kiyoko’s brothers were slightly concerned about their sister. They had no idea why the trip home to Konoha had been so awkward. But what caught them even more off guard was that when they finally did get home to their apartment in Konoha, Kiyoko sprung back to life, as if nothing was ever wrong to begin with. That made even less sense to them.

As if the whole world was trying to mess with their minds, Madara told them that he wouldn’t be training with them any time before the wedding. He had too much to do, he said. Madara Uchiha, the man who made the Ookami get up at extreme hours for training  _ every day _ for the last  _ seven months _ wasn’t going to be training with them for  _ four consecutive days _ ? Even if he had things to do, he was never too busy to train them, and he always made a point of that. He gave the brothers no explanation on this though, and quickly disappeared as soon as they had passed through Konoha’s gates.

They didn’t dare question their own sensei, and if Kiyoko wanted to tell her brothers what was happening, she would do it on her own; so the brothers decided to let it go. The wedding was four days away, and Kiyoko undoubtedly had plans for the three of them anyway.

* * *

"Kashikoi, that is not how you wear _ hakama_ _!"_ Kiyoko said, marching over to him and fixing the tie. "You could have ruined this, you know!"

"I thought I had it right this time!" he whined in response. This was the third time he had tied his  _ hakama _ wrong. Kiyoko finally had to do it for him.

"There," she said, her smile finally coming out some. But it quickly vanished when she saw Kuro’s  _ hakama _ tied wrong as well. He tried his best to conceal it from her, but she already saw it.

"Kuro, you get back here!" she ordered, able to move surprisingly fast in a kimono. "You’re not walking out of this house looking like that!" She fixed his too, and then took a step back, making sure both of them were wearing their kimono correctly. Finally, she smiled again, and this time her smile stayed on her face.

"I think we’re ready to go!" she said, grabbing her purse and heading toward the door to put her sandals on. Her brothers followed, slipping on theirs as well before exiting the apartment.

The procession was to start at Hashirama’s residence, and then proceed to a nearby shrine. Luckily, Hashirama’s home was not far from there the Ookami’s apartment was, so they made it there just in time. Everything was so beautiful. The entirety of Konoha was decorated for the wedding, but the path the processional was going to take was beautiful. The sakura trees along the way were in bloom, and all along the path there were flower earns lining the road. Everything was so colorful and brilliant.

Kiyoko and her brothers tried to catch a glimpse of Hashirama and his wife-to-be, and from a distance, they both looked extremely happy. Mito looked stunning. The siblings had never met her before, but she looked to be the nicest person they would ever meet. The siblings couldn’t wait until the reception afterwards.

Kiyoko hadn’t looked around much, but she didn’t see any sign of Madara. She knew he would be present for this since he was one of Hashirama’s closest friends. She stopped glancing around when the processional began. She didn’t want to be looking for him anyway.

Madara arrived at the processional and took his place along with the rest of the wedding guests behind the bride and groom’s families. He didn’t really like weddings. He didn’t like much of anything right now. He had been busy the last few days, but he was in a sour mood in general. The processional started. He didn’t see Kiyoko or her brothers anywhere. He was glad of it.

The processional made it to the shrine. There weren’t too many guests following the bride and groom, simply because the shrine could only hold a small number of people. Senju relatives sat on one side of the room while Uzumaki relatives sat on the other side. Madara was invited by Hashirama, so he went to the side where the Senju were to sit. Everyone remained standing for a moment, and when Madara and the other guests around him got situated, he realized he was right behind Kiyoko. He couldn’t move now. He would just have to deal with it. He really hated weddings now.

The whole congregation was seated after each family bowed in respect toward one another to be symbolically purified, and the ceremony began. Madara couldn’t believe he hadn’t realized he was sitting right behind her. Hopefully she didn’t notice where he was sitting. She hadn’t appeared to notice, and neither had her brothers. He didn’t want to be near her. For all four days preceding the wedding, he had asked himself why in the world he didn’t kill her that night. He threatened to do so, and he didn’t. He would have done so with any other person for sure, but for some reason he didn’t. He felt distracted. Something was different.

Could he kill someone he didn’t really know? Yes, he knew her, but as a student. When she appeared before him that night outside of Iwagakure, she was anything but his student all of a sudden. She was a complete stranger that resembled his student. Even the way she showed her temper was different from the way it used to be. He hadn’t seen her like that before. He didn’t get it.

And why in the world was this bothering him still? He really should have killed her. If he had killed her, this wouldn’t be bothering him. He only thought that for a moment, and then thought better of it. He wouldn’t have really had to worry about her brothers, since they’d be even easier to kill off than their sister, but the Senju would have been a different story altogether. So, maybe it was better that he didn’t kill her.

Everything he knew said he should have. But for some reason, he held back. It was almost as if she transformed right before his eyes into a woman. Sure, she was growing and maturing, but he hadn’t expected this from her. When she stepped between him and the Iwa shinobi, he expected to see her protest with an unsupported argument, and then her eventual retreat. When she didn’t retreat, he expected that he would kill her, or at least remind her of her place, and that would be that. But she did none of that. She addressed him differently than she normally had. Usually, she could be mildly formal with him on occasion, but she never composed herself like an adult. He never felt like he was talking to an adult when he was in her company until she intervened in his fight with the Iwa ninja.

And for some reason, for those entire four days before the wedding, Madara felt slightly guilty. This is what really bothered him. He didn’t understand why he had to feel guilty for something he’d done before. He’d killed haughty people before. He never had a second thought when he did that. He had put people in their place before. They always listened to him. They were always afraid of him.

But maybe he was trying to put Kiyoko in a place where she didn’t belong. As his student, she was definitely below him. As a young, unmarried woman, she was still below him, but above a student’s position in the hierarchy. But he couldn’t treat her like either one of those anymore because that’s not who she was at all.

All of a sudden, Kiyoko was this unpredictable human being that he didn’t even know. This was exactly why he didn’t even bother with women. Men were predictable. They always did the same thing, were always logical, and they weren’t confusing. Why couldn’t women be more like men? Why did they have to make things so much harder for him? When a girl became a woman, why couldn’t it just feel right for him to treat her like a man? Why couldn’t everything be that way? And why was it that when a woman became a woman, she couldn’t act like a man? That would make things much easier for him.

He knew why he felt guilty. He hated it, but he knew why he felt like he had made a mistake. He tried to treat her like a child, and she wasn’t a child. She was a woman now. She was a respectable woman who had developed her own concrete opinions and beliefs about right and wrong. She was right; she did hold the same position as him as an ambassador. And he had tried to force her into a box that she didn’t belong in. He had been disrespectful, too. He had slighted her honor. She had honor now that she was grown, and he had to respect that. He didn’t agree with her at all, but that was a different matter.

And now, he was indebted to her. He really didn’t like this at all. He would have to find some way to fix this, and then he could just disappear entirely. He knew she didn’t want anything to do with him. She hadn’t even bothered looking in his direction the entire way back to Konoha, and that had made him especially irritated with her. It also made him feel very uncomfortable for some reason. He didn’t like that she was avoiding him. It was rude, for one. Secondly, it made him feel guilty. Thirdly, he couldn’t really name why. After the fact that it was rude and it made him feel guilty, he still felt strange on the inside.

All the wedding guests were given sake to drink, and then the ceremony ended. By now, it was late afternoon, and the procession exited the shrine and left for the wedding reception. Madara hung to the back of the procession in order to avoid making contact with Kiyoko and her brothers. He still had too much on his mind to do anything properly.

The wedding reception was held in a large park near Hashirama’s house. There were flowers everywhere, food, alcohol, and people. There were way too many people. Hashirama had probably invited the entire city of Konoha and Uzushio to the reception. Madara didn’t like this many people around either.

He found himself a nice place to sit in the shade away from most of the crowds. He would get food eventually and converse some with the newlyweds, but for now, he wanted some time to himself.

* * *

Kiyoko, Kuro, and Kashikoi were thoroughly enjoying themselves. The wedding reception was extremely luxurious. The Senju had really outdone themselves on this wedding. Everyone looked so happy. After the reception had begun, Kiyoko and her brothers finally got to talk to Hashirama.

"Thank you for coming!" he beamed when he saw them approaching. Then, his wife turned around and saw the siblings. "I would like to introduce you to my wife, Mito."

Mito was absolutely beautiful. She had long red hair, pale skin, and beautiful brown eyes. Her smile was radiant, yet humble at the same time.

"This is Kiyoko Ookami," Hashirama continued. "Her older brother, Kuro Ookami, and her twin brother Kashikoi Ookami."

"I’m delighted to finally meet all of you," Mito said, bowing. Her voice flowed like silk. "Hashirama has told me so much about you."

"We’re so glad to finally meet you as well!" Kiyoko said, bowing along with her brothers. "Hashirama-san has told us much about you also."

Mito smiled and blushed, giving Hashirama a look. Hashirama chuckled and blushed in embarrassment as well, rubbing the back of his neck.

"What can I say?" he said, having been finally caught in the act. "I can’t stop telling people how wonderful you are, darling."

Mito only smiled and shook her head. Then, she looked back at the siblings, particularly at Kiyoko. Perhaps it was because she was female. It seemed to Kiyoko that Mito was only a few years older than she was. She looked to be almost thirty.

"I will be back soon to speak with all of you," she said, smiling kindly. "I am going to change into a lighter kimono for the party so I don’t bake to death!"

With that, Mito excused herself from the party. When she returned, she had on a lighter-weight, more colorful kimono. She talked with the Ookami for hours. She especially liked talking to Kiyoko, and Kiyoko loved talking to her. They seemed to make a connection right away.

"And that’s when I told him that we had none left!" said Mito, in the middle of telling a story. "But my father didn’t believe it, and went to check. Sure enough, we had none, and all the way from inside the house, my sisters and I heard him making a ruckus to the stable boys, when we had actually stolen the sugar cubes!"

The two of them had been talking for at least three hours, and they had been giggling almost nonstop.

"You just stole sugar cubes?" Kiyoko laughed, and Mito nodded, hardly able to contain herself.

"My sisters and I had a bad habit of depriving our poor horses of their sugar cubes," she said. "We would build miniature castles out of them instead of eating them, and then we’d hide them all in the vase in the hallway."

"Didn’t they melt?"

"Well, they must have! I believe one of the maids caught onto our little games and cleaned out the vase every week or so. After a while, we started noticing that the sugar cubes were disappearing from the vase, so we stopped stealing the sugar cubes, afraid that our father had figured out what was going on."

Kiyoko laughed heartily, and sighed. She finally found a good friend in Konoha.

Just then, as she looked up, she saw Hashirama approaching the mat where she and Mito were sitting. Right behind him, Madara was following him. Kiyoko froze, and the smile vanished from her face. She knew that he would be here, but she hadn’t seen him the whole time she was there, and frankly she had forgotten about him. Mito noticed her look, but didn’t have time to say anything really before she had to stand and greet her husband and Madara.

"Madara-san," Mito said, bowing. Madara bowed in return. Kiyoko had absolutely no clue what to do. She really wanted to leave. She hoped she could just slip away, pretending that she was going to get food. That would work, yes. As she stood up, she made the mistake of looking up and making eye contact for half a second with Madara. She tried not to look like an idiot for that half a second, and bowed very shallowly before excusing herself to go find her brothers.

She decided to get some food, and found herself a nice place to sit under a sakura tree. After some time, Mito found her again.

"There you are!" she said, smiling and sitting down next to Kiyoko. "I was only going to take a few minutes. Madara-san and I have already met."

Kiyoko nodded, not saying much of anything. Just then, a couple of men came up to where she and Mito were sitting and began talking to her. They were Senju, and clearly interested in her. Kiyoko pulled out her folding fan. Mito smiled at her and pulled out her fan too, leaning towards Kiyoko and covering her mouth with the fan so the men couldn’t hear what she was saying.

"You know," she whispered. "I met my husband at a wedding reception. Senju men are not bad at all." Kiyoko giggled, and one of the men in front of her blushed, thinking that the two women were talking about him. The man with him nudged him in approval, and he kept talking to Kiyoko.

Kiyoko sat there for about half an hour talking to these men. She wasn’t exactly doing much talking, but she let them talk to her. They looked to be quite friendly. Just as she was getting comfortable, one of the men whispered something to the other, and the smiles fled from their faces. They seemed uncomfortable now. Kiyoko became confused. Had she done something wrong? She looked over at Mito, but Mito was looking the other direction, smiling coyly. She opened her fan and whispered to Kiyoko without losing eye contact with whoever she was looking at.

"Would you look at that?" she said, chuckling softly. "Your suitors are receiving dirty looks from a certain Uchiha. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say he’s a little bit jealous."

Kiyoko tried to look in the general direction Mito was looking, and found Madara looking right back at her. She widened her eyes in shock, thankful that her hand fan was covering most of her face so he couldn’t see her expression. She turned back to where the Senju men were to find them excusing themselves politely, but very quickly. Mito turned her attention to where they had been before, surprised.

"Oh, he scared them off," she said in a slightly disappointed tone, but then she chucked a little and shook her head. Kiyoko abruptly closed her hand fan in disgust and huffed, looking in the direction opposite of Madara.

"I don’t want him coming over here," Kiyoko huffed, and Mito looked at her in surprise.

"You don’t want Madara to come over here?" she repeated, clearly shocked. "I’ve never heard such a statement from a woman." Kiyoko did her best to ignore Mito’s generalization and continued to be stubborn.

"I don’t like him, and I don’t want him coming over here."

"You don’t like him? Pray tell! An eligible lady such as yourself doesn’t like Madara? That is the first time I have ever heard such a thing!"

"He’s arrogant! And selfish! And rude!"

"Really?" Mito said in disbelief. "I find that quite hard to believe. He’s always been very kind and respectful towards me. And he seems to be quite interested in you. I don’t think there’s been a moment during this party where he hasn’t been admiring you from afar."

Kiyoko nearly yelped. He’d been watching her this  _ whole time _ ?

"I do not understand him," she groaned, sighing. Mito smiled.

"Men can be very confusing creatures," she said. "And although Madara seems to be a man of many talents, I don’t think he has had a whole lot of experience with women. He may very well not know  _ how _ to speak to a lady."

"Oh, trust me," Kiyoko said. "I can attest to that." Mito chuckled.

"Give him a chance to redeem himself," she replied. "Did he say something wrong?"

"Very," Kiyoko said, rolling her eyes at the thought of it. Mito shook her head, smiling.

"Let him have a chance to talk to you," she said. "He’s learning his place."

Kiyoko blinked, and looked over at Mito in shock. Did she just...? Mito only smiled and winked at Kiyoko. She couldn’t have possibly known about what happened, could she...?

Mito stood up and excused herself, saying she had many other guests to meet and thank for coming. She promised that they would get together to gossip later on down the road. And then, Kiyoko was left on her own.

* * *

The sun had already set, and the reception was still going. The intrepid drinkers were the main ones that stuck around now, and unfortunately, that included many of the guests. This did not include Madara Uchiha, who was thoroughly displeased with the festivities by now. But he was stuck here. He didn’t want to be stuck here, but he was.

The sake was being passed around by now, and Madara did his best to avoid it. He drank a little bit at the beginning of the party to be polite to the new couple, but that was it. He didn’t like to drink for the fun of it. He didn’t consider it fun. He considered it to be imbecilic.

He felt like he was wandering around aimlessly now. Did he really have a reason to stay any longer? He could easily go home and bury himself in work. He didn’t have any work to do though. He could easily make up a bunch of work and bury himself in it. As good as that sounded, he found himself walking away from the entrance of the park. He’d get around to leaving eventually.

As Madara was walking past a mat, he glanced at who was sitting there and saw Kashikoi, drunk and surrounded by Senju women. He was in his happy place. Kuro was drinking too, laughing at something the man across from him said. Madara did as much as he could to keep himself from rolling his eyes at them. But it only made him wonder where in the world Kiyoko was in all of this. For most of the party, he had kept tabs on where she was from a distance. She had seen him a few times as well, but most of the time she had not. She spent most of her time with Mito, but as soon as Mito left her side, Madara lost track of her somehow. He didn’t see her drinking anywhere, and he hoped he wouldn’t. He didn’t appreciate drunkards, and he didn’t want to even imagine a drunk Kiyoko.

Madara walked away from the reception and up the hill behind the park. There was a tiny garden at the top, he remembered. He could get away from all the drunkards and their babbling nonsense up there.

When he got up there, he saw a figure already sitting on the bench he had planned to claim for himself. Kiyoko turned when she heard him approach, and was at a loss for words when she saw who he was. Madara was wearing his signature emotionless face. He had no other emotions to convey anyway.

"So, you don’t drink either, huh?" she finally said, a small smile playing across her lips. It was dark, but Madara could still see her face. He made a "hn" in response, continuing to make his way up to the bench. She moved over for him, but he didn’t sit down just yet.

"I find it to be a demoralizing practice," he went on, looking out over the hill at nothing in particular.

"I wish my brothers were the same," Kiyoko said, a small chuckle escaping in between her words. Madara turned and sat down next to her. He wasn’t sure how she was feeling about his presence yet. The atmosphere seemed kind of dense at the moment, but he could tell she was trying her best to lighten it up. The one thing he could truly admit that Hashirama was right about was that she had a way with words. He wouldn’t give Hashirama credit for anything else, though.

There was only silence between them for the longest time. Madara didn’t know what to say, and Kiyoko didn’t venture to say anything else, probably because she didn’t know what to say either. All they could hear was a distant chirp of the crickets and the night wind, accompanied by an occasional noise emanating from the party behind them at the bottom of the hill. It was a stiff silence, but also slightly enjoyable to Madara. The less obnoxious noise he heard, the better.

"The moon is beautiful tonight," Kiyoko spoke, breaking the silence. She didn’t shatter the silence though, as Madara might have expected her to do. He looked in her direction, to see her gazing upward, the reflection of the moon in her eyes. He turned his gaze indifferently toward the moon as well, just to see what nonsense she was speaking of now. After affirming that the moon was indeed still in the sky and observable, Madara responded with another "hn."

"And it’s full," she added. Her voice was so silky. He found it slightly charming to listen to, but only very slightly. "So it shines the brightest it ever will." Her face was glowing even more radiantly than Madara had ever noticed. She was always fair-skinned, but now she looked to be even more so. She looked like royalty.

"Yet, even when we can’t see it, we still know it’s there," Kiyoko went on, unconsciously combing through her long brown locks with her fingers. It was all pulled off over one shoulder. "I’ve always thought it seemed tender and motherly." She shook her head and smiled softly.

"It’s a curious thing," she said. "Even with my canine blood, I still don’t know why dogs and wolves howl to the moon." Madara squinted a little bit in response, but Kiyoko wasn’t looking at him to notice. She sighed, her eyes still locked on the orb in the night sky. "Maybe they’re looking for some sort of guidance from it." Madara said nothing, and continued to look at her out of the corner of his eye.

She blinked and looked down, and then over at Madara, whom she found to be staring at her. Upon realizing this, she turned away and looked down, shaking her head, smiling sadly.

"I talk too much, don’t I?" she said, forcing a small laugh and looking sheepishly back up at Madara.

"No," Madara replied, and Kiyoko’s eyes locked with his for a moment. She heaved a big sigh and looked away again, the pressure gone now. She assumed that was his way of apologizing to her. Although it was small, she knew he wouldn’t back down entirely from his own pedestal. She was lucky to receive any acknowledgment from him at all, so she took this to mean that their ties had been mended. They could have their differences and their similarities. And, she felt a little better now that she wouldn’t have to constantly avoid him anymore.

Madara could care less about the moon. It was something stirring in him that had his attention. It was barely there, but he could feel something he didn’t recognize: a parasite of a feeling. Whatever it was, it didn’t matter either. A peculiar woman was in his presence, or perhaps he was in hers. He had never met her until now, even though he had known her for much longer. It didn’t make sense to him. Why didn’t he see this side of her all the time? He was always the same, no matter what. Why couldn’t she be that way? Why did she have so many expressions? So many feelings? So many voices? He didn’t get it. Why did she find beauty in the moon when it always changed? Maybe because it was like her? The one and only thing Madara could deduce from that moment was that he thought the moon would be much more useful if it were constant.


	12. Chapter 12

It was a very transitional year for the Ookami. Their skills improved dramatically, well beyond what Madara would have guessed to be possible for them upon first meeting them. Now, each of them could hit him in at least five shots, and Kiyoko was down to two. Kuro was down to three, but extremely close to two, and Kashikoi had just made it to three. As soon as the siblings started doing better in offensive and defensive fighting, Madara began teaching them marksmanship with archery, shuriken, and kunai. They excelled quickly in that art, and by the end of two years, he had them sparring against each other. Sometimes, he would even let them spar against him as a group, but usually he liked to keep them fighting with an opponent who had their same level of ability.

Kiyoko didn’t win her sparring matches all the time. Neither did Kuro or Kashikoi. It all depended on how focused they were, and who got the upper-hand earlier on in the battle. Sometimes, Kiyoko would just get distracted, and so would her brothers occasionally. There were a few times where they got cocky with each other. But they were siblings. They were entitled to some haughtiness toward one another.

Madara had known that feeling of competitiveness betwixt siblings. Izuna was his younger brother, and it was always a competition of who was stronger than who growing up. Madara won most of the time, but there were times when he found himself distracted, and Izuna broke through and won. That was when Izuna was the most pompous. It had annoyed Madara at the time, but looking back on it, it was one of the few fond memories he had of Izuna.

But as soon as he got to looking backwards, he didn’t necessarily like that he had started reminiscing about Izuna, because the fond memories were few and far between. There were moments that scarred him: moments he wanted to forget, moments that changed him forever. He tried not to think about it as much. But as of lately, he had been thinking about things more and more. And Konoha had not been turning out the way he thought it would have by now. He had respect for Hashirama, but he didn’t like how the hokage was running things. The only reason Madara had agreed to the formation of Konoha was because the Senju had caught him at a bad time.

The Senju wanted an alliance to stop the fighting between their respective clans. Madara said no. He was still torn up. Why should he make an alliance with the same people who had the blood of his brother staining their hands? He was angry. He was hurting. And he wanted revenge. So, he tried to attack the Senju again, despite the fact that already, some of his own Uchiha clansmen were siding with the Senju. But he failed miserably. Hashirama’s brother, Tobirama Senju attempted to kill him. But Hashirama stopped him after Madara offered to surrender if Hashirama would kill himself. He hadn’t expected Hashirama to go through with it. He didn’t really know what he expected. But Hashirama took the compromise seriously, and began making preparations to kill himself. Madara couldn’t believe it. Tobirama tried to stop his brother, but he wouldn’t listen. He was entirely serious. Madara had to stop it. He couldn’t watch that happen to his friend. So, he agreed to the alliance.

He wanted the fighting to stop, too. He wanted Konoha to be a place where children could have a childhood and a family and live into their elderly years. Hashirama wanted that, too, or so he said. Madara had believed him at first. He thought they were on the same page. But as time went on, Madara realized more and more that they were not on the same page. No matter what he did, no matter what Hashirama advised him to do, no matter what measures were taken in the village to ensure peace, Madara never felt one bit of that peace. Hashirama was wandering about aimlessly, and this displeased Madara more each passing day. He didn’t really know what he wanted to do about it, but something different had to be done.

The only bit of peace he had felt in the longest time was when he was with Kiyoko. He couldn’t get that moment out of his head. There was so much going through his mind at the time, but for some reason, he felt some kind of peace around her that night, when she was going on and on about the moon. He hadn’t cared about the moon at all, but had found himself listening to her more than anything.

She hadn’t been changing very much lately, to his relief. He had established finally, after about six months proceeding that night, that once women became women, that was their final stage of development. He was alright with that. That thought gave him a little bit more peace, but there was still something wrong that he couldn’t dismiss. At first, he thought it was something wrong with her, but he didn’t want her to change in any way because he liked her right where she was at this point. So, he began to meditate on the idea that maybe the thing that was wrong was somewhere in him.

Not to say that there was something drastically wrong with him. He would never believe such a thing even if he told himself that. But he noticed over time and through careful observation that whenever something happened concerning her that he didn’t understand, if he looked at it in the perspective that maybe he, independently, was reacting to her, he could find some kind of feeble explanation that would satisfy him for a few days. It still didn’t feel right though, and he still didn’t recognize exactly what it was, but perhaps it was more common than most people admitted to the general public. He had never heard Hashirama speak of such a phenomenon in his own personal experiences with life, but then again, Hashirama often didn’t say much that was of use to the Uchiha.

Madara had become increasingly comfortable with how Kiyoko was acting. She was changing slightly, but he viewed that process as more of a growth process than an outright change. She was thinking for herself now, and had established herself with an independent personality (although she was still working on the independent part). As if it were possible, she had found a way to confuse him to the point of fascination, seemingly unbeknownst to her. It primarily occurred in the summer months when it was the most unbearable out, and Kiyoko would begin to complain about the heat. Then, she would bend over forwards, allowing her hair to hang rather abnormally over her head (and rudely close to the ground, might he add). But that wasn’t the part that had him confused. Somehow, she would situate all of her hair perfectly into a sort of mock-sphere with only a circular piece of ribbon.

As if  _ that _ wasn’t scary enough, she also plaited her hair occasionally during their lunch breaks. Madara was familiar with plaiting. Plaiting was used in rope making. But that was simple, three part plaiting. Not only did he witness her plait with  _ five _ parts, but she seemed to pick up even more parts as she went along,  _ and _ she changed the way she did it every time. Sometimes she would start with five and add on eight more parts, and sometimes she would start with three and add fifteen. Then, to make matters even more complicated, no matter how many parts she added, at the very end of the plait there would only be as many parts as she started with. He watched her process every time. Soon, he caught himself fiddling with his own hair in his office, trying to mimic what she was doing. He resorted once to using his Sharingan to figure out exactly what she was doing with her hands, and still he could not manage to get the same final product to manifest in his own hair. As much as he detested admitting things, he rather embarrassedly admitted to himself that he had been trying to produce the same thing for two and a half months in the private confines of his office, and not once could he reproduce it. The only thing he could deduce from that was that Konoha should hire her to make ropes immediately. No other village would compare in rope quality or strength (for her hair never fell out of the plaits), and no one would be able to reproduce their products. They’d be the unparalleled leaders in the roping industry.

Madara never admitted any of this to anyone but himself (and even that was tough), and since no one knew, his pride wasn’t hurt. He wanted to keep things exactly the way they were. Things were going smoothly, and he liked it that way. He liked predictable things. Certainly, battles were a different matter, but he enjoyed Kiyoko’s predictability, as well as her brothers’ predictability. But mainly Kiyoko’s. Her brothers never tended to abruptly do something out of character in the time that they had been in Konoha, so Madara especially liked how Kiyoko’s character seemed to be evening out.

Just as he was getting himself to admit that his time with her was becoming enjoyable though, two years had passed. The siblings were now going to return to their small village in the mountains of the Frost Country, and Madara found himself a bit irked over it. He didn’t really understand why, but perhaps it was because Kiyoko was changing again.

So, when the moving process began, Madara reverted back to his usual, quiet self. He did less talking and more observing. He didn’t show anything. He was emotionless, just as he had always been. But for some reason, when he reverted back to something that had been a normality for him for much of his life, he found it to be a much more uncomfortable and unfamiliar place than he remembered, despite its effectiveness. But he figured it would be much more comfortable than not being armored. He didn’t enjoy it, but it was necessary. It didn’t make him feel much better about the whole thing though, even though he looked like he was fine. He didn’t like the idea that things were about to change drastically. Perhaps it was because a person that he had finally felt peace around after some thirty odd years was disappearing from his sight. He liked things the way they had been. But maybe he shouldn’t have gotten so comfortable. Or maybe there was a bigger reason that he hadn’t found yet. But that idea just made him even more annoyed.

Kiyoko said goodbye to just about everyone. She said goodbye to people Madara didn’t even know. She spent hours saying goodbye to Mito. Why it took hours to say a word or two, he didn’t know. Men just said goodbye and that was that. He still believed women to be very odd.

The siblings were able to pack everything they owned into relatively small packs, and then they were ready to go. Hashirama offered to send a Senju guide with them, but Madara intervened and asserted that he would go with them. Hashirama saw it to be fitting, and agreed to let Madara be their guide instead. Madara wasn’t really sure why he did that. He had lots of things to do in Konoha. He had work. He had meetings. He could have made every excuse not to go. But he decided to go anyway. He didn’t like how confusing this whole thing was becoming for him.

Perhaps he didn’t like that she was leaving. He didn’t know why. Perhaps he had grown accustomed to her. But he didn’t know why. He had gotten to the point of accepting that things were happening to him, but he couldn’t get to the reasons, no matter how hard he looked for them. He hadn’t gotten used to that. It bothered him daily, some days more than others. But he had come to the conclusion over time that Kiyoko’s removal from his everyday life would not solve this problem. At first, her absence seemed like a plausible solution. But he had thought out the circumstances, and the way things looked for him, her absence would only make things worse for him. He found that when he wasn’t around her, he felt some kind of void in his chest.

But he didn’t want to tell her to stay. He wouldn’t be able to explain himself properly. So, he had to sit there and watch as she just walked away, never to be seen again most likely. He didn’t like it, but he supposed that life wasn’t meant to be painless. He hadn’t gotten to stand at the height he did without falling a few times. But that didn’t mean he liked the idea of falling.

* * *

The trek to the Land of Frost took just under three days. The siblings knew exactly where they were going when they got into their home country, and in no time were headed even further north to where the mountains were located. Madara had severely underestimated how cold it was going to be, and, much to the siblings’ entertainment, was forced to discard the "winter" coat he had purchased in Konoha and buy a "real" winter coat, as Kashikoi described it. Kiyoko was quick to assure her sensei that his mistake was quite common among visitors, but that didn’t make him feel much better.

He also didn’t like the altitude sickness that came with climbing a mountain. There were a few times he questioned why he even came along, believing nausea to be an extremely overpriced toll of passage. But he got along. Generally, by the next morning, he was alright, and they were all on their way again.

The siblings were extremely excited for Madara to meet their family. The entire way up the mountain, it was almost nonstop storytelling. Madara was fine with that, so long as he didn’t have to do much of the talking. On the third day of the hike, they were all telling a story about their childhood.

"We were allowed to sled here, just only down so far," Kuro said, winning an argument with Kashikoi, who believed the child version of himself was more rebellious than he had actually been.

"Well, I went down farther than I was supposed to then," Kashikoi replied, continuing on. "I was better at sledding than my siblings, so I knew I could handle it."

"I think you’re forgetting the part of the story where you wiped out," Kiyoko said with skeptical sarcasm. "On a  _ branch _ . Not a tree: a  _ branch _ ."

"Hey! It was a big branch!" Kashikoi argued. "At least  _ I _ didn’t wipe out on stepping stones."

"I was  _ five _ !" Kiyoko fired back. "You were thirteen! There’s a pretty big difference!"

"Well, no one asked you!" Kashikoi grumbled, upset that his siblings had made him look bad. "That’s not even what I was gonna say! I was gonna say that..."

Suddenly, Kashikoi trailed off. The siblings totally halted in their tracks. Madara stopped as well, looking up the mountain slope. There was a tiny village covered in snow, seemingly untouched.

"We should have been greeted by now," Kuro murmured. Kiyoko bent her knees and catapulted herself up to the entrance of the village, some fifteen yards up. She stood there under the small archway, sniffing the air for a moment, before letting out a shaky breath.

"What...?" she whispered, and she transformed into a wolf and ran off to the right, vanishing from view.

"Hey, wait!" Kashikoi called after her, transforming into a wolf and bounding up the rest of the hill after her. Kuro quickly did the same, and soon, all three of them had disappeared, leaving Madara on the side of the mountain. He sighed and continued up the hill until he had gotten to the archway. Then, he stopped and stood there.

He didn’t like the look of this village at all. It looked empty. It looked like it had been empty for a long time, too. He had a bad feeling about this.

Madara headed to the right, following where Kiyoko went. Every so often, he heard Kashikoi calling out for a response from anybody, but Madara sensed no chakra. There was nobody here.

He walked on past a few boarded up shops, a tiny park, and some houses. Everything was quiet and empty. Madara could have sworn he heard the snow hitting the ground, it was so quiet. And then, he got to a graveyard. And that’s when he saw Kiyoko, hunched over on the ground in front of a grave, sobbing.


	13. Chapter 13

Madara had never seen her cry. He didn’t think crying was all too productive, but he had cried once or twice in his life. Only when he was very young, though. He cried when he fell out of a tree when he was four. And he had cried when Izuna died. But that was about it. He was much younger during those times. Kiyoko had just turned twenty-four a few months ago. He didn’t really know what to do at the moment, so he was just standing there.

It didn’t take long for Kashikoi to find his way to the graveyard. He came running in his human form toward the entrance when he saw Madara standing there, and then froze when he saw his sister. Kiyoko slowly lifted her gaze to her side so she could look up at her brother. Tears were streaming down her face. Her face was red. Her hair was strewn about messily all around her. She looked awful.

"Mom and Dad..." she choked out softly. "They’re gone." Kashikoi started shaking, almost as if he was cold. He shook his head, and his breathing became uneven. He stumbled over to where Kiyoko was in total disbelief, and read the grave for himself. Then, he fell to his knees beside his sister, trying to hold back his own tears.

Kuro came trotting over to where Madara was eventually and stopped to stand beside him, looking at the scene. He appeared to have guessed the village’s fate earlier than his younger siblings had. He gulped, clearly at a loss for words.

Nobody said anything for a long time. Madara looked out of the corner of his eye at Kuro. There were stains from a few tears, but nothing as major as his younger siblings, who were audibly weeping. Kuro was the head of the clan now; Madara knew that much. His actions now would mean everything.

"We can’t stay here," Kuro finally murmured to Madara. Kuro was a man now. Painfully, but honestly, he had finally gotten there. He knew what had to happen. He did exactly what Madara would have done in that situation. It was the hard choice, but it was for the better. It was for his family.

Madara nodded, acknowledging Kuro’s statement. The air felt different. In death, there was always some kind of rebirth, good or bad. For Kuro, it was good. Madara felt that finally he was standing in the company of a man after three days, and it was a relieving feeling. Kuro was a natural leader. He was honorable, strong, and virtuous. Madara liked to be in the company of men with those qualities. He appreciated those kinds of men. They seemed to be becoming more and more rare as time went on.

* * *

Kiyoko couldn’t even see. She couldn’t feel. Kashi was next to her. Her whole world was blurry. She was dizzy. She felt dead, if anything.

She heard a voice. Kuro. He said something. Kashi stood up and helped her up. She could hardly see. She didn’t know she was walking. She felt empty. Hollow. Void. Where had everything gone?

Kuro was far ahead. Kashi stayed closer. He held her hand. He said something about a downhill slope. Something about snow. Something about Kuro and drifts. Kuro was so far ahead of them. She was okay. She could walk. Kashi went ahead. He said he was going to catch Kuro. He was so far ahead.

She couldn’t see. Everything was white. She could hear snow crunching. Then, she couldn’t hear that. She could see Kuro and Kashi. Down the slope a ways. She didn’t know where Madara went.

She felt dead. She couldn’t hear. Everything was blurry. She was shaking. She felt dizzy. Then, everything went dark.

* * *

Madara caught her as she fell backwards. It was a good thing he was right behind her coming down the mountain. She didn’t even give a warning. She just collapsed.

By this time, her brothers were looking back up in worry at their sister.

"Kiyoko!" Kashikoi called, in worry. She was unconscious, and didn’t answer.

"She’s alright," Madara said, situating her properly in his arms. His heart was beating so quickly. It felt like it was higher in his chest than normal. He had never held her like this before.

Her eyes were closed softly, a tiny look of distress still visible on her face. Her muscles were relaxing though. She was so fragile.

Kuro started up the hill to relieve Madara of his sister, but Madara shook his head.

"I’ve got her," he said, looking back down at them. "Let’s keep going."

The brothers nodded and turned around to continue, scouting for dangerous drifts and shifty rocks. Madara looked back down at her. She looked calmer now. She was so light. She seemed to fit right in his grasp, like a perfectly crafted sword would fit in the palm of his hand. He swallowed. How did one go about slowing down their own heartbeat? He didn’t know how. He was starting to feel slightly warm, but he wasn’t so sure the coat was the problem.

He looked away from Kiyoko to concentrate on getting down the mountain. There was a little inn at the bottom of the mountain in Shimogakure where he and the siblings had stayed for a night on the way up. It wasn’t too far away now. He wouldn’t get tired from carrying her.

She stirred a little bit while he was walking, and barely opened her eyes. He glanced down at her. She was disoriented and barely lucid.

"It’s alright," Madara assured her, although he felt like he was assuring himself, too. "I’ve got you."

Half awake, she realized where she was, but she didn’t have the strength to move too much, resting her head softly where it had been on his upper arm again.

" _ Gomennasai _ ," she whispered almost incoherently before slipping back into her unconscious state. She wasn’t well. Her face looked red. She probably had some kind of stress induced fever, Madara figured, and this was her body’s way of handling it. She looked so awful. He had never seen her like this.

When they got to the bottom of the mountain, the inn was nearby. Kuro got a few rooms for them, and Madara proceeded to take Kiyoko up to the room where she’d be staying.

As Kashikoi was opening the lock on the door, Kuro looked at Madara, then at Kiyoko, thinking.

"What do you suggest?" he finally asked. Madara took a breath in, looked at Kiyoko for a moment, and then breathed out.

"Cold, wet towels on her forehead," he said. "Green tea for her whenever she wakes up enough to drink it." Kuro nodded in agreement, hardly experienced in any sort of medical field. He was trying his best not to become anxious, but he really had no clue what to do. That was alright, though. Madara had been in his share of stressful situations before, and he knew all too well what it felt like making decisions in those kinds of circumstances. A second opinion could be helpful.

When Kashikoi got the door open, he went in and laid out a futon, and then Madara carefully set Kiyoko down on it. He stood up and looked at her for a moment, then he glanced at Kashikoi, who handed him the key to his room. Madara nodded in thanks and left the room, passing Kuro in the hallway. He was carrying a pail of water in one hand and had a pile of small towels under the other. He made it into the siblings’ room and set everything down, and then came back out to Madara just as he got his door open.

"Madara-san," he said, catching the Uchiha’s attention before he entered his own room. " _ Arigatōgozaimasu _ ." He humbly bowed towards Madara in thanks, and as soon as he stood, Madara stopped him from leaving.

"I will provide you all with rooms when we return to Konoha," he said. "Free of charge." He knew that they didn’t have enough money to pay for an apartment on their own, and since they had no steady source of income, they couldn’t afford an apartment for more than a couple of weeks. On top of that, they had a lot of recuperation to do, and it was going to be a hard next few months. Madara knew that. He’d been through that.

Kuro’s eyes widened immensely. His mouth hung open for a moment. He was in disbelief.

"Madara... I... We can’t..." he stuttered, unable to put words to his thoughts.

"Enough," Madara said, not letting Kuro have a chance to decline. "It’s done. Now go take care of your sister."

Kuro looked down, trying to hold back the tears that he had been resisting ever since they had been at the top of the mountain. One fell down his cheek, and the rest stayed corralled in his eye, but he kept his head down.

" _ Arigatōgozaimasu _ ," he choked out, swallowing hard. He took in a hard breath and stood up straight, looked Madara in the eye, and then turned and headed back to his room, closing the door behind him.

Madara turned and entered his room, closing the  _ shoji _ door behind him and locking it. It was getting dark quickly, so he slipped off his shoes and lit a candle that was sitting on the small end table across the room. Then, he unrolled his futon and sat down on it.

He wasn’t tired. He couldn’t sleep. It was totally silent. He sat there for a good half hour, unmoving. He was thinking. He thought about his brother, and he thought about Kiyoko, and he thought about Kuro, and then Kashikoi. And then he thought about Kiyoko again.

He couldn’t stop thinking of her. But he was beginning to understand more and more about himself. He wanted her around. He knew that much.

He saw a faint light outside the window of his room and was curious, so he stood up and walked over to the window. It was the moon, shining in all of its brilliance through falling snow. It just made him think of her more. Should people look to the moon for guidance? He didn’t even know what he was thinking. It was something she had said, not him. But the more he thought about it, the more it seemed to make some sense, even if it was very remote. He didn’t really know.

He did know, though, that the siblings would be returning to Konoha, and they’d be staying there for a long time. That made him feel a little better about things. But he still didn’t feel quite right. Kiyoko was not herself right now. And he didn’t like that. He wanted her back to her original self, the self he liked.

He knew he liked her. He just didn’t understand why it had to be so uncomfortable to like someone, or enjoy being around someone. He’d never felt like that around Hashirama during their childhood. He’d never felt like that around Izuna. Why did everything have to be so different with Kiyoko? Was it that she was a woman? Did that make things different for him? He didn’t understand how things were supposed to feel. Nobody ever bothered telling him that women were so much different than men in every possible way. Nobody ever told him that he’d feel so uncomfortable when he was around her; nobody told him that he’d feel so empty without her around. Nobody told him that his heart would speed up the moment he felt even the slightest touch from her. Nobody told him that a mere woman could turn his world upside down. And nobody told him that Kiyoko, out of all women, could do this to him without even realizing it.


	14. Chapter 14

Two days later, Madara and the siblings were walking through the gates of Konoha again. Kiyoko had recovered from her fever the night they stayed in the inn, and she was able to walk the rest of the way back, but she was very quiet. She was disconnected from any conversation, and she spent most of her time alone. Her brothers were generally there to support her, which she seemed to appreciate, but in most circumstances, she was off in her own world the whole way back.

Madara walked into his home first, the siblings following behind. He asked the servants to prepare rooms for them, and then went about his business. For the next couple weeks, he didn’t see a whole lot of Kiyoko. It was almost like she never came back from Shimogakure with them. During the day, it was just as quiet as it had always been in his home, almost as if he didn’t have guests. It was very odd.

Kuro was the first to go out and find a day job. He began work at as a blacksmith’s apprentice, and picked up the skill rather quickly. He was gone for most of the day every week, but had time for breakfast in the mornings and dinner in the evenings after he returned. Most days he was so exhausted that he went to sleep right after dinner. As the weeks passed, his physical stature changed, mainly with the muscles in his arms. He was fairly well built to start with, but his arms showed a bit more burliness than he had displayed originally.

Kashikoi also tried to look for a job in the city as well. But after a couple of days, he offered to do some work in Madara’s own rice field, which was out behind his home. Madara didn’t object to this, since he paid his field workers by their hours in the field and the amount harvested; naturally, the more workers there were, the better his crop turned out to be. Kashikoi also helped in the stables where animals were kept, and he tended to them early in the mornings before he went to the fields. He grew in stature slightly over the span of a few weeks, and his skin became a bit darker from working the sun.

Madara did not see Kiyoko very much though. For the first week or so, he barely saw her at all. Her brothers said that she was in her room most of the time, and Madara decided to have her meals brought to her room for her. She had to eat sometime.

He found himself worrying for her. He never saw her or heard from her for a good two weeks, even when her brothers were not around. It was like she wasn’t even in his home at all. But he left her alone. He didn’t go to her room, and he didn’t bother her at all. He specifically told the servants that brought her food to her not to bother her in any way either. They were not to speak to her unless they were giving her food, a message, clothing, or the like, or unless she spoke to them. In such cases, they were to be very brief and very respectful. Whatever she requested, they were to obtain for her. They were to be quiet around her room at all times, and anything unusual they were to report to him.

Even with all of this in place, he still worried for her every so often. Sometimes he couldn’t fall asleep for a while at night. But she was not the only thing resting uncomfortably on his mind. He had work to do, and he was still troubled about Konoha’s future. He often found himself swimming, and it was in very uncomfortable thoughts.

* * *

Kiyoko didn’t leave her room for the first couple of weeks. It was very quiet, and when her brothers began leaving for their jobs in the morning, that was the last contact she had with humans for most of the day, until they returned in the evenings. For a long time, she found it difficult to think about anything.

For the first few days, she sat on her futon and looked at the painting that was across the room. She studied it down to the brush-strokes, until she could have almost positively reproduced it exactly. Then, she would start looking at the  _ tatami _ mat. She studied the intricacies of each part for hours at a time, only getting up to move to a different part of the mat. They were very well made, she noted.

After she had exhausted that practice, she opened the  _ shoji _ door across from the one leading out to the hallway, and found the courtyard. Finding this to be a pretty view, she began seating herself right inside the door to the courtyard, and she would sit there for hours, just watching the scene. There was always something new to look at. The flowers were lovely to look at, and the trees were blooming more every day in the summer sun. The birds would always be singing different versions of the same song, and the bees would dance simply about the flower beds. There was a koi pond in the center of the courtyard, and every once in a while, she would hear the splash of water as the koi situated themselves.

A maid would bring her a small tray of breakfast just after sunrise, lunch right at noon, and dinner right after sunset. The food was good, and they also brought her a change of clothes every day. They were soft, light weight house dresses, and they fit her nicely. They were quite pretty, ranging in color from a very light blue to a light yellow.

It was at the end of two weeks that she decided to change her schedule again. She woke up that morning and had her breakfast as usual, then she opened the door to the courtyard and sat down for a few hours. It was especially pretty out. But she was curious. She wanted to walk around. So, she stood up and began walking around the courtyard. It was very pretty. The koi were well taken care of, and so was the garden. She had watched the servants come out and feed the koi and take care of the plants every few days, and they had been doing a good job. Everything looked very alive. The bees were much more interesting to watch up close, and the colors of the flowers were much more intricate than they were farther away.

She walked around the courtyard until lunch, only stopping to eat lunch, and then continued observing the plants until dinner. She decided she liked this schedule, and she would repeat it tomorrow. It was making her feel a little better with each passing day.

* * *

Madara had been receiving word from his servants that Kiyoko was moving around more with each passing day, so he was worrying a little bit less now. Apparently, for the past few days, she had been walking around the courtyard, which was a big change from her seclusion in her room.

During the first week of the siblings’ stay, he had asked the maids to go out to a ladies’ clothing store and purchase some simple cotton house dresses for Kiyoko to wear. He approved of them before they were given to Kiyoko. He had no idea if she liked them. He wasn’t sure how that worked for women. As far as his servants reported, she was wearing them, which relieved him a little more. He wanted her to be comfortable here, even though it wasn’t exactly her home.

He came out of his room after a long morning of work. He walked past the kitchen, where his servants were preparing lunch for him. He walked into the dining room and sat down on one of the four cushions at the table. He had been eating lunches by himself for just over two weeks now. He didn’t really mind. He had plans for after lunch to have a clan meeting, and his mind was on that.

While he was in the middle of looking out the window thinking, someone else came into the dinning room, and he assumed it was a servant with his food. But when he turned to face forward again, Kiyoko was seating herself across from him at the table. He widened his eyes a little bit. She was wearing the light purple version of the cotton dresses that the servants had gotten for her. She looked very pretty in it.

" _ Konnichiwa _ ," Madara greeted her, not expecting much of a response from her, but she looked up at him with those piercing green eyes of hers and smiled ever so slightly.

" _ Konnichiwa _ ," she replied, her voice still as silky as he remembered it to be. His heart only sped up. Just then, two servants came in with their food. They set down two trays in front of them with a bowl of steamed rice, chopped up beef cooked in a sauce, miso soup, and hot tea. Both of them broke open their chopsticks, whispering an " _ ittadakimasu _ " before beginning. Her whisper was like nothing he’d ever heard before. He never knew a woman’s voice could be so soothing to the ear.

Even the way she ate captured his focus. She was extremely dainty, and Madara wondered why he hadn’t noticed that before. With every move of hers, his heart seemed propelled to greater speed. This organ of his body seemed to be experiencing more exertion than he did while fighting.

When she finished everything, she remained quiet for a moment, looking down at the table. Then she looked about the room briefly, before turning toward Madara.

"Your house is very nice," she said, and he set his empty bowls aside, looking up at her. "And I enjoyed your garden. Your koi are very healthy."

" _ Arigatō _ ," he replied, nodding lightly. "I try to keep it all in good condition."

"It is very beautiful," she said. Then, it became quiet. As the servants came in to take their empty dishes, Kiyoko used this time to excuse herself, bowing and exiting the room. The dress looked so beautiful on her. And it flowed so sweetly as she walked. It came down to her mid calves, and although it was such a simple dress, she made it look worth so much more than it had been bought for. He couldn’t take his eyes off her until she disappeared around the corner.

He finally stood and made his way back to the west side of his home for the clan meeting. He knew they probably wouldn’t like that the siblings were living with him now, but there was no reason for them to be alarmed. The siblings were quite harmless to the Uchiha. They would move out eventually when they had enough money to afford an apartment.

The only thing about that he didn’t like was that if the siblings moved out, he wouldn’t see Kiyoko as much, especially now that he wasn’t training them any longer. He wanted to see her. He liked seeing her. He liked speaking with her, even if it was just a little bit. He knew partially what the feelings meant now. Those feelings meant that he liked her. He liked who she was, and he liked that she was nearby. That was easy enough for him to admit to himself. He liked things this way.


	15. Chapter 15

Kiyoko found herself exploring Madara’s home a little bit more each day. The garden in his courtyard was very beautiful, but she wanted to see more of his home. It seemed to be a very nice home. She tried not to roam around too much though, for she didn’t want to seem like she was intruding. She also didn’t want to get lost. She hadn’t realized how truly big his house was when she had first arrived, but now as she was getting out of her room more often, she was noticing just how large it was. There were so many rooms in it, and he had so many servants. In the end of the third week of her stay, she wandered outside and realized there was even more to his house than the inside. There was a stable, bit of pasture for the livestock, and he had his own plot of land for rice paddies. Kiyoko couldn’t believe it. Not only was Madara prominent, but he was also appeared to be quite wealthy.

That day, Kiyoko explored the stables a little bit, which were situated behind Madara’s home. He had a couple horses, some chickens, and a couple of cows. A few servants passed her and bowed, and then she saw Kashikoi.

" _ Konbanwa _ , Kashi," she said, smiling at him. Her twin looked up, a little surprised to see her outside. He was a bit dirty, and he was wearing a large sunhat.

" _ Konbanwa _ ," he said, smiling and slipping his hat off for a moment to talk to her.

"What kind of work are you doing out here?" she asked him, looking out through the back of the stable and into the field of rice paddies.

"I do field work, and stable work when I’m not needed for field work," he replied, chuckling a little bit. Then he sighed, making a face. "But sometimes it’s a drag because all the pretty girls work inside most of the time."

Kiyoko smiled and giggled at him.

"That’s all you ever think about,  _ baka _ ," she said, shaking her head. He imitated her laugh mockingly, and she lunged for his hat, but he was quick enough to dodge and step out of her reach. She only looked at him with an eyebrow raised and folded her arms across her chest. Kashikoi only laughed and put his hat back on his head.

"Well, I ought to get cleaned up so I can get inside in time for dinner," he said, smiling warmly. Kiyoko nodded, smiling back at him. She waited for him as he splashed water on his face and arms, and then she turned around to head back to the house with him. Kuro should have been getting home soon as well. He was working in a blacksmith’s shop, and Kashikoi was working for Madara. Kiyoko felt slightly unproductive, as though she should be doing something. She didn’t really know what she could do, though.

The sun was setting in the sky, and Kiyoko and Kashikoi made their way to the dining room, meeting Kuro along the way, who came in the front door. As her brothers walked into the dining room, Kiyoko stopped and looked in the kitchen, which was across the hallway at an angle. The servants were gathering vegetables and meats for dinner, and Kiyoko stopped in the doorway. She knew how to cook some. She figured it would be something small to do. She asked the servants if she could help with the cooking, and with some persuasion, she finally got them to accept her help.

They asked her if she wanted to cook anything special, and she thought for a moment.

"I don’t know," she said thoughtfully, examining the meats available for use on the table. "We could do some kind of beef in a sauce. Or we could do something with this fish. Maybe sushi."

"And what exactly are you doing in here?" said a voice from behind her, and Kiyoko turned. Madara was standing in the doorway, an eyebrow raised at her.

"Cooking dinner," she replied, before looking briefly at her surroundings. "Eventually."

"You?" he said.

"A skill that I learned from my mother," she said, biting back at his hint of sarcasm.

"Oh really," he said. "Now, why would I have a guest cook in my house?"

"It’s the least I can do in return for your hospitality," she said sweetly, but then she became sarcastic again. "But apparently you need to be convinced of my skill. What would  _ you _ like for dinner? Name it, I’ll make it."

Madara raised an eyebrow at her again, a smile curling barely at his lips.

"That’s a rather large menu," he commented. "Are you sure you can cook  _ anything _ ?" Kiyoko smiled, narrowing her eyes.

"Anything," she confirmed. Madara heaved a sigh, and then his face went entirely serious.

" _ Inarizushi _ ," he said, and Kiyoko heard one of the servants gasp quietly. She turned around and saw the one closest to her covering her mouth in shock, while the other two slowly backed away from the work table. They all had scared looks in their eyes.

"I’m rather picky," Madara explained, and Kiyoko looked back at him, unfazed.

"Good," she replied. "I like to work under pressure."

Madara shrugged, and left the doorway to take his seat in the dining room with her brothers. Kiyoko turned to the servants. They were all looking at her like she was crazy in the most respectful way they could muster.

"Madara-sama is  _ extremely _ picky about his inarizushi," whispered the one that had gasped. "We’re not allowed to make it anymore because he didn’t like it when we did."

"Well, then you three are going to learn how to make inarizushi the  _ right _ way," she replied calmly.

"But how do you know he will like it this time?" asked another. Kiyoko smiled.

"Because," she said, reaching for a pot. "It was my father’s favorite dish. And  _ nobody  _ was pickier than he was. Now get me some tofu skin and let’s get started on this."

The servants nodded and brought out all the ingredients she called for. She taught them everything they needed to know about making the fried tofu pouches; from frying, to cutting, to flavoring, to stuffing them. When she had finished showing them, one of them worked with her on making more inarizushi, and the other two finished preparing miso soup, meat, more rice, and hot tea.

Everything was ready in no time, and the servants said they would take care of serving everything, so Kiyoko went and took her seat across from Madara. The servants came in and placed the trays of food in front of everyone, and then scuttled back into the kitchen to observe from a distance.

Everyone whispered an "ittadakimasu," and broke open their chopsticks. But the siblings didn’t eat just yet. Kiyoko looked across the table at Kuro, then at Kashikoi, who was right across from Kuro. Then, they all looked at Madara, which slightly perturbed him. He sighed and picked up one piece of inarizushi. He studied it for a moment, before taking a bite out of it. He chewed for a moment, and then paused, glancing at Kiyoko with an unreadable look. He looked at the half-eaten piece inarizushi again.

"How much of this did you make?" he said lowly, in a completely unreadable voice. Kuro and Kashikoi got a bit tense, but Kiyoko didn’t even flinch.

"Enough for seconds," she replied without even the slightest bit of hesitation. Madara was silent for a moment, and it seemed the whole house was holding it’s breath, waiting for his reaction. He looked her right in the eyes again.

"Good," he finally said, a tiny smile just barely curling at his lips. Kiyoko smiled back, only this time it was a warm smile, and not her confident smile. The tension was relieved in the room, and the siblings began eating their food. Kiyoko heard the servants sigh in relief and begin to clean up the kitchen from making dinner.

* * *

  
  


When everyone had finished and was heading back to their rooms, Kiyoko made it to hers and closed the door. Kuro got to his and caught Kashikoi before he went into his.

"Hey, I need to talk to you about something," Kuro whispered, looking both ways down the hall to make sure nobody was listening in. Kashikoi nodded and came into his brother’s room, sliding the door shut after him. Kuro took a deep breath and then spoke very softly.

"Did you notice anything...  _ weird _ about—"

"Madara and our sister?" Kashikoi cut in. "Yeah, you bet I did." It was like this was common knowledge for him.

"Was he doing what I think he was doing?" Kuro asked slowly, and Kashikoi gave him a look.

"He was doing  _ exactly _ what you think he was doing," he hissed softly, simply because he couldn’t yell. "And it was  _ disgusting _ . I don’t need to see  _ anybody _ flirting with my sister." Kuro took a breath and thought for a moment, and then he went over to his bag of belongings.

"Come here," he said softly. "I want to show you something." He proceeded to pull out a stack of letters, many of them being the letters that the siblings had sent home to their parents. All but one were unopened. Kashikoi widened his eyes in shock.

"I went to our post office when we were back home," Kuro explained, still in a hushed tone. "And I found all of these." He pulled out the first letter they ever sent home, which had been opened.

"And I found this in our house," he continued, referring to the opened letter. "Our parents died a few months after we left. This is the only one they got to read." Kashikoi was still speechless, and he picked up the very first letter they had sent home.

"But that’s not all I found," he said, pulling out more letters, but they weren’t from the siblings. "These are the correspondence letters between the Senju and our parents; the letters that our parents got before we were sent to Konoha."—he paused, allowing Kashikoi to pick up the first letter from the Senju—"I’ve been reading them." Kashikoi looked at the first letter, and then the second letter. Kuro took a deep breath and spoke.

"Training wasn’t the only reason we were sent to Konoha."


	16. Chapter 16

It was almost eight o’clock at night. Kuro and Kashikoi were standing at the front door of the Hashirama Senju’s residence, waiting for someone to answer the door. Finally, a servant came and opened the door for them, and ushered them inside. Hashirama was not home, but another servant went to go get Mito. The brothers were brought to a room with a small table and were given hot tea. Then, Mito came in.

" _ Sumimasen _ ," she said, taking a seat across from them at the table. "But my husband is not home. He is still working at his office. Is there anything I can do for you?" Kuro took a deep breath, looked at Kashikoi, and then looked back at Mito.

"We’ve got a few things we want to talk about," he said. "And the first one is these." He pulled out all the letters from the Senju to the siblings’ parents. There were three of them. Mito picked up the first one and began to read through it quietly.

"Upon our return to the Land of Snow, I found those letters in our home," Kuro stated, and Mito kept reading. "They detail the exact agreement between the Ookami clan and the Senju clan regarding our stay in Konoha." Mito nodded, putting down the first letter and picking up the second letter.

"I recognize these letters," she replied, without looking up from the paper she was reading. "I knew about this agreement."

"The second and third letters state that Hashirama was going to serve as the _nakōdo_ for the Ookami clan," Kuro went on. "Meaning that we were sent to Konoha not only to train, but for Hashirama to match our sister with a suitable husband."

"That’s correct," Mito said, picking up the third letter and skimming it.

"I am now the head of the Ookami clan," Kuro said. "So I would like for you to explain to me exactly what my parents requested of the Senju clan." Mito put down the letters and looked up at Kuro and Kashikoi.

"I do not have the letters that your parents sent to Hashirama," Mito began. "But I know what they said. Your parents knew that your clan was in major decline; more so than they expected. They had already established an agreement to send you three to Konoha for training, but in the months that followed, they also requested for Hashirama’s assistance in marrying off their daughter: your sister. They knew that she was less likely to marry if she stayed in the Land of Snow, and they wanted her future to be secure, should the rest of the clan collapse.  _ Your _ futures would be secure as Ookami men, no matter what happened to the rest of the clan because when  _ you  _ married, your surnames would be passed along. Kiyoko’s, however, would not. Your parents sent you along with her to act as her escorts in their stead during your stay in Konoha, since she was and still is a young, unmarried woman."

"What about Hashirama?" Kuro asked. "He was supposed to find her a suitable husband before we returned to Shimogakure, wasn’t he?"

"He had already set you up to train under the most suitable man he knew," Mito replied. "And he worked nonstop for two full years in order to ensure that your sister looked like the most eligible lady he could possibly present to the head of the Uchiha clan." The brothers were dumbfounded. Mito paused for a moment and sighed.

"Now," she continued. "Whether or not his work has been successful is a different story. Hashirama has had mixed results on this. We’re not exactly positive whether Madara has shown any  _ concrete _ interest in her. We knew that he had  _ some _ , but we weren’t sure it was enough for him to seriously consider marrying her." Kashikoi took in a deep breath, and Mito looked over at him. The brothers looked at each other.

"Well," Kashikoi said slowly. "He’s definitely still showing interest." And the brothers told Mito about everything: how Madara carried her down the mountain, how he bought her dresses, how he had her food brought to her room for two and a half weeks, how he spoke to her, how he looked at her, and especially the whole episode at dinner, which Kashikoi couldn’t describe without a hint of disgust.

After they had relayed everything to her, Mito began to laugh.

"I’m not surprised at him," she said, shaking her head. "He’s a clever man. I always had a feeling he would excel in the art of coquetry if he only had an interest in women. And now, it’s quite clear that he does." She paused for a moment, thinking to herself, before her eyes widened upon reaching some kind of epiphany. Then she laughed.

"I know exactly what he’s doing," she laughed triumphantly. "That man..."—she shook her head—"He’s a genius. He’s been one step ahead of us the whole time. But two can play at that game."

Kuro and Kashikoi looked at each other. "What?" they both said in unison.

"What is he doing?" Kuro asked.

"Why  _ else _ do you think he would offer to let you stay in his home?" she asked. The brothers looked at each other. When they didn’t say anything, Mito continued.

"He wants to have easy access to a certain someone, perhaps?" she suggested, and the brothers suddenly understood. She nodded.

"Clearly this has been quite easy for him to accomplish in secret," she went on. "Considering that neither one of you really picked up on it until recently, much less Hashirama or me. Here’s my idea on how to deal with all of this the  _ correct  _ way: If Madara plans on going any further, we need to make things more realistic for him. You three are going to have to move out and get an apartment."

The brothers looked at her strangely. "But—" Kuro started, but Mito shook her head.

"Right away," she said, anticipating his question. "By tomorrow evening."

"What good will that do?" Kuro asked, becoming slightly frustrated.

"It has come down to that," Mito replied. "If he wants her, he’s going to have to do something about it: formally. It’s either make or break now. And what do you say to this, Ookami Kuro? The final decision is yours." Kuro took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He thought for a moment. He had never imagined having to make all of these decisions as a clan leader. But it was for his sister, and he wanted to do what he thought was best for her.

"Where would we go?" he asked. He wasn’t ready to settle quite yet. He wanted to make sure everything was set in place.

"I can contact your prior landlord and have your old apartment available to you by tomorrow afternoon," Mito said. Kuro looked at Kashikoi, and then back at Mito.

"It’s settled then," Kuro said, and all three of them stood. Kuro and Mito shook hands, and then the brothers excused themselves to return to Madara’s home.

* * *

"By tomorrow?" Kiyoko asked, and Kuro nodded. Kiyoko looked down at the floor.

"I talked to Mito yesterday," he continued. "And she said she could contact our prior landlord to give us the same apartment we had while we were here earlier." Kiyoko nodded in acknowledgment. She was still thinking. She took in a deep breath.

"Alright," she said finally, nodding. "I agree; we’ve probably overstayed our welcome. We need to stand on our own."

"And we can afford it now," Kuro added. "I have a paying job, and although Kashi will have to find a new job here soon, he just got paid for the harvest a couple of days ago." Kiyoko nodded again. She agreed moving out was for the best, but she didn’t look too excited about it. Kuro understood why. He hadn’t told her about the rest of the conversation with Mito or the correspondence letters between the Senju and the Ookami.

"Who’s going to tell Madara?" she asked.

"I will," Kuro said, and Kiyoko had no problem with it. He was the head of the clan now, so he made all their formal decisions. "You’ll want to pack up all of your things tonight," he added, and Kiyoko nodded, reaching for her bag and putting her few belongings inside. The Ookami seemed to have very few personal belongings. Everything of theirs always fit into a nice, small bag, which was quite convenient. Even in their old home in the mountains just north of Shimogakure, they didn’t have much of anything besides the house itself. Everything of value to them they took with them on their first trip to Konoha.

"I’ll talk to him tomorrow morning after breakfast," Kuro said to Kashikoi, as he walked out of Kiyoko’s room. Kashikoi nodded and went to his room to pack his things as well. Kuro had to pack his things up too, so he went to his room to do that. He didn’t have to go to work the next day, so he’d be able to get everything situated with the apartment after the siblings moved out of Madara’s home. He couldn’t help but sigh to himself. Already, he was assuming more responsibility than he had ever imagined. But, he was doing what he felt was best for his family. They only had each other now.

* * *

"Madara-san," Kuro said, catching the man right after breakfast. "May we have a word with you?"

Madara nodded to Kuro, and headed for his office, the siblings following him. He wasn’t really sure what this was about, and the fact that all three of them were coming into his office made his feeling of uncertainty stronger.

Madara sat cross-legged beside his desk, and the siblings sat across from him a few feet away. They were in a kind of triangle formation, where Kuro was at the top and closest to Madara, while Kiyoko and Kashikoi were a little bit behind their older brother.

"We want to thank you for your generous hospitality," Kuro said, bowing toward Madara, and his younger siblings did the same. Madara bowed his head toward them in return.

"But we thought it best for us to move out and get a place of our own again," Kuro continued. "We have enough income to support an apartment, and Kashikoi will be getting a job soon as well."

Madara had known that this would happen eventually. He had expected it. Nonetheless, he got an empty feeling inside when Kuro said that. It wasn’t that he was hurt in any way by this. They did need to move out and establish their independence. That was a good thing for them. But he couldn’t help but feeling a bit down about it.

"The apartment we stayed in previously should be ready for us by this afternoon," Kuro went on. "So I figured on getting moved in there by the end of today."

" _ Wakarimashita _ ," Madara said, nodding his head in understanding. This was probably the best for them. He didn’t like the feeling he had in his chest though. It wouldn’t go away.

The siblings thanked him again for his hospitality, and then went to gather up their things. They were gone within the hour. And Madara couldn’t help but feel melancholy.


	17. Chapter 17

The siblings were able to move into their old apartment with relative ease. Their landlord gladly let them return that day, and Kuro was able to pay for the rent up front. Kashikoi took up apprenticeship at the blacksmith’s shop as well, so that made things a little bit easier for Kiyoko if she needed to find both of her brothers at the same time. Kiyoko tried to look for a job for herself and found one in a flower shop. She liked the smell of flowers, so she figured it would be a job that could brighten her day.

She had been feeling rather down lately. Her job didn’t start as early in the morning as her brothers’ did, and most of the time she got home before they did too. She felt quite lonesome. She had spent time away from her brothers before, so it wasn’t that she couldn’t be alone for a few hours. But she felt alone even when she was around them. Something didn’t feel right.

Even when she was at the flower shop tending to the flowers, she felt a kind of loneliness that she had never felt before. It was slowly eating at her from the inside out, and at first, she just tried to ignore it. She figured it was brought on by the effects of moving around so much. But that didn’t really seem to shake it.

She started work the day after they moved to their apartment. It went alright for her. She had so much to learn about the shop, and she was intrigued by the colors and the smells. She couldn’t believe one shop could hold so many kinds of plants. But there was an underlying feeling that came out when she made it home that evening. It really bothered her, and she was very quiet that night at dinner. Her brothers noticed, but they didn’t say anything. There wasn’t much that they could say.

Her second day at the shop wasn’t as nice. She got stuck with cleaning the floor most of the time, simply because there weren’t a whole lot of customers that day. That gave her a lot of time to think to herself. As she wandered around the shop tending to the plants, she walked into the greenhouse in the back. As she was picking some of the wilted flowers off one plant, she happened to glance at another and she recognized the flower. She froze there for a second and stared at it. Then, she went on, watering and pruning the other plants, trying to hold back the tears. She couldn’t cry here. She couldn’t cry at all. Kunoichi weren’t supposed to cry. So, she didn’t let herself cry. She didn’t look at that flower the rest of the time she was at work. She didn’t need to be reminded of the flowers in Madara’s courtyard.

That night when she got home, she pre-made dinner for her brothers, ate her own dinner, and then went to her room. She did not come out to greet her brothers when they returned home. She wanted time to herself.

The brothers were beginning to worry. If something didn’t happen soon, Kiyoko was going to get worse. Kuro knew she was heartbroken. He knew what she was thinking, whom she was thinking about. He couldn’t say anything to her, though. He had nothing that he could say to make her feel better. He couldn’t tell her Mito’s plan because he couldn’t guarantee that it was going to work. He felt awful doing this to her, though. He felt like he was lying to his own sister, and it was visibly taking a toll on her. He didn’t like to see his sister like this. Something needed to happen soon.

* * *

The first full day without the siblings was rather uncomfortable for Madara. He didn’t really know how to deal with this feeling. Naturally, the first thing he did when he didn’t understand a feeling he had was to bury himself in work that required the upmost concentration. That worked for about a day, until he found himself unable to sleep again.

The more he thought about it, the more he realized that there hadn’t really been a moment in his whole life that he had been comfortable. He had been pursuing what he thought would bring him peace, but perhaps he had been going the wrong direction. Not to say that all of his prior work was all for naught, but it never seemed to fully satisfy him. The only actual moments of serenity he experienced were when he was with Kiyoko. As much as he hated to admit things, he had to admit this. But he didn’t know what to do about this situation he was facing now.

The second day was not enjoyable. He worked for a few hours in the morning, and then he found himself unable to concentrate for long periods of time before his thoughts would drift elsewhere. Sometimes, he would just sit in his office doing nothing for long periods of time. He had work sitting right in front of him, but he had no motivation to do it, which made him quite upset at himself. He was always a hardworking man, always efficient, and always got things done much earlier than they needed to be finished. But these empty feelings inside didn’t seem to have any regard for the fact that he was a very busy man. He had better things to do than sit around and be apathetic. So, he began to work again, and worked very late into the night.

But the next day was absolutely dreadful. For some reason, he had gotten himself into thinking about Izuna all over again. He had barely gotten any sleep that night, and all he could think about when he lied in bed was how discontented he was with Konoha, and everything else in particular. He didn’t like how anything was going for him, and he didn’t feel any kind of peace. He never had.

So, when he got up the next morning, he didn’t do much of anything. He just sat there, staring at the work that he had to finish, feeling like he could rip his desk in half. He sat there for about an hour like that, and then he stood from his desk and walked around his home for a bit. He decided to go to his courtyard and walked around there some, too.

His garden didn’t seem as brilliant as he remembered it being. With fall setting in, many of the flowers that had been radiant in the summer were now wilted or dying off. The only colorful thing that remained bright under the September sun was the green of the grass and the golden reflection of the koi in his pond. He strolled by the pond, taking a closer look at them. They looked just as healthy as always, swimming about the pond merrily without any care in the world. It only made him think of Kiyoko, and how she told him that his garden was beautiful. His vocabulary usually didn’t include the word "beautiful," simply because the things he looked at on a regular basis weren’t what he would consider "beautiful." But he wasn’t seeing what he wanted to, now was he?

He sat on the walkway that encircled the courtyard. He was extremely troubled at this point. He felt extremely unproductive, and although he could go into his office and try to accomplish something, the fact of the matter was that he didn’t have the focus or the urge to do anything like that. He had too much on his mind. Today seemed to be the day for him that everything he ever worried about throughout a period of two years had rudely smashed itself into his mind, and all very uninvitedly.

He didn’t understand why he had to feel so empty. Had he done something wrong? Why was it that almost everyone around him was satisfied with their life but he wasn’t? Was he missing something? He didn’t know. And it frustrated him.

He hated feeling distracted. He couldn’t keep ignoring his feelings and covering them with work. He knew that. He just didn’t like dealing with things he didn’t understand. He had never fully understood these feelings. Once he thought he had them figured out, they abruptly changed into something entirely different and completely foreign to him. He didn’t know how to handle them at all. He was actually getting to the point of wondering if there was something wrong with him. He didn’t know enough about other people’s lives to know if these feelings of loneliness were abnormal. He didn’t like them at all. But he knew he had to deal with them somehow, or they would destroy him. Ignoring them was only making him feel even more frustrated as time went on.

But what was he to do? He wasn’t good at this kind of thing. Nobody taught him what to do in situations like this. He was taught to fight. He was taught the rules of combat, not social interaction. He wasn’t taught about flirtation, he was taught how to brandish a weapon and use it to its full capacity. It seemed that the very peace that he wanted and pursued ironically caused him pain and frustration in the process of obtaining it.

Perhaps he was going about it the wrong way. Maybe he was trying to jump over steps in the process. He didn’t really know what steps he was jumping over, but it was just a thought. It made him feel a little better.

But that left one issue tugging painfully at his heart. He couldn’t ignore it. He missed her. He didn’t even care about admitting that to himself anymore. He wanted to return to seeing her more often, like he used to. He wanted things to go back to the way they were. He had never felt so utterly alone in his own home until the moment she left. As much as he tried to cover it up at first, he knew it was true. He had gone on like this for almost four days now, and it was wearing him down to his last nerves. He couldn’t do this to himself anymore. He just didn’t know what he could do about it.

So, he decided he would start small. He knew he wasn’t going to get any clan work done today. He had nothing that was in dire need of finishing, so he decided use the rest of the day to take a reluctantly paced, but purposeful, stroll through the bustling afternoon streets of Konoha.

* * *

Kiyoko felt like she was becoming mindless. She wanted to be productive at work, but it was proving to be very difficult when she had so much weighing on her heart. She wasn’t sure what she wanted to do, but she wanted to go to somewhere that would comfort her, so all day at the flower shop, she daydreamed about a certain futon that was much softer than the one in her apartment.

Finally, her work ended. She wanted to get home and sit on her futon for the rest of the evening. Her brothers would be home about an hour after her, and she decided that she was going to start making their dinner right when she got home. She wasn’t hungry.

She got home and went to work making steamed rice and heating up some leftover meat from the night before. Kuro and Kashikoi had gotten hooked on drinking a certain fruit juice, so Kiyoko put that out for them as well. Then, she retired to her room for the evening.

When Kuro and Kashikoi got home, they saw that their food was sitting on the table, hot and ready to eat. They washed up and ate in silence. Both brothers were worried about their sister. Each day seemed to get even worse for her. She seemed to have little strength, and the fact that she didn’t even eat with them anymore was enough evidence to prove that she was hurting. She never seemed to come out of her room, and she never seemed to say much of anything anymore either.

Kuro was troubled. He hadn’t spoken to Kashikoi about this issue, but he was most likely in the same position that Kuro was at this point. Kuro didn’t really know what to say to her. He hadn’t planned on telling her about what Mito said, or about the letters from the Senju. That wasn’t for her to know. But he needed to say  _ something _ . He had pondered about what to say to her all day, and he had come up with nothing. He didn’t know if he could say anything that would make her feel better. He was genuinely worried for her.

When he finished his meal, Kuro went to put his dishes in the sink and found it to be empty. Normally, the dishes Kiyoko used for her dinner were already in the sink, but there wasn’t anything sitting there. She hadn’t even eaten. Kuro was on his last nerve. Something had to happen. She couldn’t go on like this. He couldn’t go on like this. He wasn’t sure what was going to get him further: talking to the Senju or talking to Madara himself. If Kuro could arrange any kind of way for Kiyoko to see Madara again, perhaps she’d feel better. Kuro knew this was about Madara. He knew his sister had feelings for the man. He’d known for a long time. And now, he was watching her heart break, and he couldn’t bear it because it was causing his own heart to break as well.

He decided that he would talk to Hashirama tonight. Something had to be done and it had to be done now. He made his way toward the door and opened it only to find Madara on the other side, staring right back at him. Kuro was quite startled to say the least. Madara’s facial expression reflected similarly.

"Madara-san," Kuro said, trying to wipe the look of shock off his face and think of something intelligent to say at the same time. "Long time, no see!" That was certainly the opposite of intelligent. It had only been four days since he had last seen the man.

Madara didn’t seem to mind Kuro’s statement all that much though. He nodded in acknowledgment, but he had a look of intent in his eyes.

When Kiyoko heard Kuro say that name, she bolted up from her futon and slowly slid her door open, peeking down the hallway at the front door. Sure enough, there stood the man himself, sporting his usual navy blue Uchiha garb.

Kuro wasn’t sure what to say at all at this point. He was extremely stuck. The only thing he could think of to say was even more idiotic than the first thing he said. But he was saying it before he could stop himself.

"How have you been?" he asked, and he wished he could slap himself. Madara still didn’t seem to be paying any mind to the fact that Kuro was blabbering.

"Fine," Madara replied quickly. "You?"

"We’ve been alright," Kuro said, although he knew that wasn’t exactly true. "We’re comfortably moved in, and we all have jobs now."

Madara nodded once, replying with a short "hn" of acknowledgment as he did. Kuro wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep this up. Suddenly, Madara took in a breath in order to speak. Kuro bit his tongue.

"The real reason I came was..." Madara began, and Kuro perked up. From the back of the apartment, Kashikoi and Kiyoko listened intently. The whole house held its breath.

"...to ask you for permission to court Kiyoko."

Kuro was about to display a shocked expression, but there was a thump heard in the back of the apartment as Kiyoko fainted.


	18. Chapter 18

Kuro rushed back to Kiyoko’s room, leaving Madara at the doorway. When he got back there, Kashikoi was on the ground next to their unconscious sister, a look of confusion all over his face.

"She was fine a second ago," he stuttered, worry seeping through his words. He hadn’t done anything wrong, but he felt like he could have done better. Kuro knelt down next to her. She had landed on her futon, so she hadn’t hit her head on anything, which was what he was worried about. Madara appeared beside him, standing in the threshold. Without even looking at him, Kuro answered the Uchiha’s request.

"This all depends on her state of health, Madara," Kuro said, sounding utterly and completely like Kiyoko’s father now. It even made Kashikoi shudder a bit. "If she recovers, which she probably will, you have my permission to court her as she pleases."

Kashikoi looked up from Kiyoko, shock written all over his face. Kuro was firm though. He knew exactly what he was doing.

Kuro stood and faced Madara, both of them bowing toward each other in order to officialize the agreement. Then, Madara turned to head for the door, Kuro following him to escort him out. The Ookami needed some privacy now, and Madara understood that.

Kuro closed the door after Madara. As he returned to her room, Kiyoko slowly began to open her eyes.

"Wha..." she uttered confusedly, her eyebrows furrowing so as not to let so much light into her eyes just yet.

"Are you alright?" Kuro asked, his arm holding up her head. She gathered her bearings for a moment, and then she found his face.

"What did you say? To him?" she asked, ignoring her brother’s question. Kuro smiled, letting out a small sigh of relief.

"I said yes," he replied. "So long as you were in good health. You seem to be."

Her face slowly brightened up, and her mouth curled into the most thankful smile he had ever seen on her face. She shot up from the futon and embraced him.

"Thank you," she whispered, and Kashikoi crossed his arms, a frustrated look on his face.

"Hey, don’t forget about me!" he protested. "I didn’t say no!" Kiyoko giggled softly at his jealousy and pulled him into the hug as well.

* * *

News of the courtship went public quickly. It seemed that almost everyone looked at Kiyoko in a different light now. She couldn’t walk down the street without receiving looks of curiosity from people she didn’t even know. It was slightly embarrassing to her, the fact that everyone somehow knew about the whole thing. She supposed that was what came from attracting the attention of a very prominent man.

As good as things suddenly got, she was also slightly nervous. She wasn’t sure how the Uchiha clan was going to take this. Generally, they hadn’t appreciated the Ookami presence in their village. The siblings had never gotten along with any Uchiha except for Madara, and even that took a while before it happened.

Not only was she nervous about that, but she was nervous about the courtship in general. She didn’t really know how to act around Madara anymore. What was she supposed to do now? What was she supposed to say to him? She didn’t know how she was going to hold herself together around him anymore, now that their feelings were somewhat out in the open. It was just too much for her to handle by herself.

So, she went to talk to Mito about it. She trusted Mito’s opinion on things like this, since Mito had already been through a successful courtship before.

"But what do I  _ do _ ?" Kiyoko asked, feeling absolutely hopeless.

"Nothing that you haven’t been doing already," Mito replied calmly.

"But it’s going to be so strange now," Kiyoko said. "We’re going to have to be in public if we’re together."

"It’s really not that embarrassing," Mito said, laughing. "You’ll get used to it in time."

"Well, that’s easy to say," Kiyoko mumbled, resting her chin in her hands. Mito sighed and smiled.

"You’ll be fine," she said. "Just be yourself. Madara didn’t ask to court anybody but you." Kiyoko looked up at her, giving her an unsure look. She finally sighed.

"You’re so corny," Kiyoko complained, face-palming.

"It’s true!" Mito protested, trying to whack Kiyoko across the head while laughing at the same time. "Were you even listening to what I said?!"

"Yes, I was!" Kiyoko shouted, erupting in giggles as she tried to dodge Mito’s advances. "That’s how I know how corny it was!"

"Come  _ back _ here!" Mito called after her, trying to sound stern but failing miserably on account of her own laughter. Kiyoko scrambled out of the room, and Mito chased her down the hallway. If Hashirama had been in his home at the time, he would have been convinced that he had children.

* * *

"Please understand," said one Uchiha. "This is unacceptable on multiple levels. We can’t have our leader courting outside the clan. Do you realize how badly this will make us look?"

"On top of that," added another. "These Ookami are of the merchant class! I’ve seen them working in the shops downtown!"

"Uchiha can’t marry someone of such low status!"

"That’s unheard of!"

"Our honor will be entirely destroyed!"

Madara often did not have a reason to show his temper in clan meetings, but he was dangerously close to doing it this time. Taking a deep breath, the entire room went silent and Madara prepared to speak.

"First of all," he said. "I apologize if my actions have alarmed you or hurt you in any way. It was not my intention to jeopardize the Uchiha clan’s honor in any way. I have known the three remaining members of the Ookami clan for more than two years now. They have posed no threats to us at all in those two years, and have proved themselves, in my eyes, to be worthy of us. Their strength is legitimate, and they are extremely honorable.

"These are my words: my opinion of them. I am not known to be extremely lenient towards outsiders myself, but I see no reason to fear these people. They’re respectable, and they’ve earned their place my mind."

Madara paused, and looked around the room with his eyes for a moment.

"I’m sorry to hear that my opinion is starting to have less of an effect on the consensuses made by the clan," he continued. "I hope that this is reconsidered. I am working towards what I see to be best for the Uchiha clan, and your support is very much appreciated." It was silent for a moment in the room as everyone digested what had been said. Madara would be firm on this if it was the last thing he ever did.

A man across from Madara cleared his throat.

"Perhaps I speak for a few men here," he said slowly. "And perhaps not."—he paused—"I believe that some of us, including myself, have been a bit irrational towards the Ookami clan. It has always been the tradition for Uchiha to intermarry and keep our bloodline pure.

"But in times of change such as now, it is my opinion that Madara is doing what is best for this clan. The Ookami clan has displayed nothing but strength and adaptability during their stay, and I feel that Madara is doing right in his attempt to secure such qualities for our own people. So, with that being said, I would like to offer my sincerest apologies towards you, Madara-san, in hopes that perhaps your honor may be restored."

The man bowed deeply toward Madara, and Madara returned the bow. He knew, though, that not everyone in the room shared this opinion. There were a few that probably did, but the majority were still being stubborn. As long as he had some support, though, that was enough. It was exactly what he needed.


	19. Chapter 19

It was customary for couples amidst courtship to only see each other in public settings. This was how both sides maintained a respectable reputation. Although a couple could be relatively alone together while in public, it wasn’t condoned, and modesty was encouraged. It was also considered very improper for couples to display any kind of affection toward one another in public, so they had to keep space between themselves when they were together. Naturally, this wasn’t all too difficult for most couples because with courtship came the embarrassment of being seen together, and in most cases, that alone discouraged inappropriate behavior.

For Madara, the whole idea of their courtship being public was an annoyance. He already wasn’t a very public person, and now that he’d have to be seen in public with a woman who wasn’t yet his wife, he knew it would be detrimental to his pride. The whole publicity standpoint discouraged him from even wanting to walk down the street with her, not because he was embarrassed to be seen with her, but because he felt that his private life was now being invaded. But that was just how things had always worked.

He had reluctantly gone and spoken with Hashirama about this, and their talk encouraged him a little bit on the matter. He still wasn’t totally comfortable with the courtship, but there were ways to be alone while still being in public, so long as they were careful. Hashirama also pointed out an important detail, and that was that the objective of the courtship was to woo Kiyoko. If Madara could focus on that, perhaps this whole ordeal would not be as painful as he imagined it would be.

The only problem standing in his way now was that he didn’t know what couples actually  _ did _ during courtship. He’d never participated in or observed such a social interaction, and his former self had found no reason to pay attention to such things, so he was entirely clueless. He didn’t know what his role was in this, and he didn’t know what he was supposed to do with her. Hashirama suggested that simply talking to her would be a good start, and that was enough to convince Madara that the world was not going to end right then and there when he first looked upon Kiyoko on the day that Hashirama gushingly described as being their "first date," whatever that was supposed to mean.

Kiyoko’s appearance that day was rather lovely. Her hair was hanging softly at her sides, resting comfortably in its natural waves, and she was wearing some kind of breezy summer dress that Madara had never seen her wear before. She looked to be dressed quite casually though, so Madara was slightly relieved, considering that he was wearing what he always wore. She didn’t seem to mind this at all.

Kiyoko was, however, unusually shy. She didn’t have a whole lot to say the first time period they had together, which was slightly disappointing to Madara, but he couldn’t really blame her because he hadn’t come up with much of anything to say either. The only people who did most of the talking were the townspeople whom they passed during their stroll of Konoha, whispering to one another excitedly as the couple passed. It was annoying to Madara, but there wasn’t a whole lot he could do about that either. He decided that the very first thing he would do the next time they took a walk together would be to suggest that they walked in a  _ less  _ populated part of town. He only hoped that she would agree to that, having most likely felt the same uncomfortableness he did.

After a while, they began to get used to each other in this new light, and they began getting smarter about where they walked during their outings together. Also, instead of eating in restaurants, they would order their food to go and eat in a garden or a park, which was definitely a public place, but there were fewer people around to bother them. They also decided against walking through Konoha’s center of commerce quite early on, which saved them a lot of embarrassment as well.

Due to the fact that Kiyoko had a job, and also because Madara had his own work to do, the two did not see each other daily. A couple of times a week was about all they could garner toward the courtship, which was just as good as it was bad. Madara began feeling even closer to Kiyoko than he had imagined himself becoming, and the fact that they still couldn’t see each other as much as they used to was quite frustrating to him. It was frustrating for Kiyoko as well, who still felt a bit unsure about what she should be doing in all of this. She felt that the whole idea of courtship was designed to be a bit embarrassing, and somehow she couldn’t get over it. She wanted to see Madara even more often than she was, but she was never sure exactly what to say or do when she finally got the chance.

Upon asking Mito for guidance, the lady suggested that perhaps during the times when they couldn’t see each other, Kiyoko could write to him. At first, Kiyoko deemed this to be even more embarrassing than speaking to him in public, but Mito explained that it might bring the two of them closer. When Kiyoko was still hesitant, Mito offered a different and more simple, yet artistic, approach to writing: haiku.

At first, the idea seemed terribly daunting, and Kiyoko had absolutely no clue what to write about. But she finally decided to write about something she liked, which was nature. So, inspired by the light precipitation that day, she wrote her first haiku to Madara:

_ So it seems today _

_ The rain has made the flowers _

_ Hide desperately _ .

She folded the piece of paper up nicely, and had planned on mailing it to him that day on her way home from work, but she saw one of Madara’s servants and gave it to her with specific instructions not to read it and to hand it to him, saying who it was from and nothing more.

When Madara received the folded up piece of paper, he was a bit confused by it. But, upon hearing that it was from Kiyoko, he dismissed the servant and read the haiku in the privacy of his office. Nobody had ever written a haiku for him, and he instantly felt like he had been there with her as she worked in the flower shop, imagining the flowers closing up and wilting as the rain softly pelted against them. After this sensation, he immediately felt inclined to write one in return, so he did the very next day, detailing exactly how he felt as he slaved over his work:

_ Seldom can I sleep _

_ When I have not heard today _

_ That voice like soft silk _ .

At first, Madara thought that his haiku was quite silly, but before he could have second thoughts on it, he called the servant that had first delivered Kiyoko’s haiku to him and gave her similar instructions on delivering his.

Kiyoko was at work that day, just tending to the flowers, when she heard a customer walk in. She turned from her work to take care of the person, but was shocked to see the servant from yesterday to whom she had given her haiku. As if that wasn’t enough shock for one day, the servant presented her with a neatly folded up note, stating that it was from Madara. Kiyoko had not expected any sort of response from him, but upon reading his haiku, she told the servant to come back the next day at nine o’clock in the morning to deliver her reply to Madara.

They went on like this for a few weeks, just whenever they couldn’t be around each other. This heightened their want to be near to each other, and made their interactions in public slightly less awkward. It put them at a bit more ease when they were around each other, knowing they shared some sort of feelings in common, and after a while, the only real embarrassment to them was the gossip of the townspeople.

Madara was still a bit unsatisfied though, and he could never seem to fully grasp happiness while he was with her, although he came very close. It always seemed to be just out of his reach, and he didn’t like the restrictions they had when together. There were a few times when they would be walking beside one another, and Kiyoko would accidentally bump into him, as he assumed most people naturally did every so often. She would quickly apologize for doing so, and her action didn’t really offend him, but it sent his heart reeling through his body when she did such a thing. He hid this quite well, but he couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed even when she just slightly touched him, and he didn’t fully grasp that concept either. As much as it stressed him to know that his feelings could potentially become out of his control, he also felt a slight inclination to accept these feelings, although he had no idea why he should or why he would want to in the first place. It seemed like the exact opposite of what he wanted to do, so he remained cautious and concealed these reactions he was having to her, no matter how difficult it was to do.

There came one particular morning while they were walking together down a quiet street in Konoha. It had been a few weeks since the start of their courtship, and they were getting along much better than they had been near to the start. They talked back and forth more easily, and the tendency to be shy around one another was beginning to wane. The trees were beginning to change color due to the effects of autumn, and the wind was blowing indicatively. Kiyoko looked up at the sky, her dress flapping heartily in the grasp of a strong gust.

"There’s a storm coming soon, isn’t there?" she inquired, and Madara looked back as well. There were clouds looming over the horizon although the sun still was shining brightly over Konoha. Madara nodded.

"It should be coming soon," he responded, guessing that it would hit in about fifteen minutes or so. That would be enough time to find some sort of shelter. They continued walking in the direction of Kiyoko’s apartment, and Madara’s house came into view. Kiyoko’s apartment was quite a few blocks further into town, but they would make it in time. Just as they came up on Madara’s house though, raindrops appeared on the road before them. It wasn’t coming down hard, but it had definitely come much faster than Madara expected. They could still make it to her apartment without getting too wet.

Suddenly, almost as if that thought had jinxed everything, it began to pour in buckets.

"Oh my—!" Kiyoko said, a huge smile of disbelief appearing on her face as she looked up at the perpetrating clouds. She let out a laugh, and looked over at Madara, who was giving the clouds a different look. He shook that thought from his head and looked back at Kiyoko, who was quickly becoming drenched, and made a spur of the moment decision.

"Follow me," he said. "Quickly!" He took off running across the street and Kiyoko bolted after him, passing street merchants who were frantically pulling protective tarps over their goods or moving them indoors. The two of them kept running, and finally, Madara made it to the front porch of his home, safe from the downpour under the protection of the awning over his front door. Kiyoko arrived seconds after him, and when she caught her breath, she looked at herself and then at Madara, finally letting out a giggle. They were both drenched.

Madara found nothing overly amusing about being sopping wet, but the fact that it amused Kiyoko was enough for him to let a smile sneak onto his lips for a moment before a servant opened the door and let them in.

"Get her a change of clothes," Madara said to the servant as soon as they were safely indoors. "And some for me as well." The servant nodded and relayed his orders to a few other servants before all of them hurried off to accomplish their task, ushering Kiyoko and Madara in different directions.

Kiyoko was given a dry change of clothes and a guest room to change in, and she was told that she could leave her wet clothes in the hamper inside the room. She started to change, but she stopped in order to look at a painting on the wall. It was extremely intricate, and she had never seen it before. Then, she realized that there was a lot of Madara’s house she hadn’t seen yet, and she opened the door to the hallway again, leaving her change of clothes behind. She wasn’t all too bothered about her wet clothes at the moment, and they weren’t dripping anymore.

She began wandering down the hallway in the direction opposite from which she came. If she got lost while exploring, someone would find her eventually. There were servants everywhere. Madara would be able to find her just as easily, too. She liked that thought.

She felt better now that their interest in each other was in the light. It was almost feeling nonexistent before. During those four days after the siblings moved, Kiyoko had really begun to have her doubts. The more she thought about it, the more she began to think that she was just imagining things. It was starting to seem almost one-sided to her. But when he finally asked to court her, it felt relieving, even though she had been doubting the legitimacy of her own feelings, much less his. It was slightly comforting, but it was still a tiny bit nerve wracking, even now. Whenever she was around him, she only hoped that she acted properly, all while maintaining who she was. Even though she tried to act normally, she often felt like she became a bumbling, stuttering idiot whenever an important moment arose, and she felt like she never knew what to say half of the time.

She turned and walked down a long stretch of hallway, and toward the end, she could faintly make out a beautiful vase sitting in the corner. It was getting dark due to the storm outside, and she supposed this part of the house wasn’t used a whole lot since it was not lit nearly as much as other parts of the house were.

She walked up to the vase and examined it more closely. It was very colorful and very dainty looking. It made her think of Mito and the sugar cube story. Kiyoko smiled and shook her head. Looking at Mito from the outside, it was hard to imagine that she’d ever do such a silly thing. But Mito was young at heart: a quality the two women shared.

Kiyoko took a step back from the vase in order to continue down the next hallway, but she backed right into someone. She knew right away who it was by the size of him, but she was a bit frustrated with herself for not sensing him approach. Normally, she smelled people before they were even close, but that was when she was paying attention.

" _ Sumimasen _ ," she said, turning around to face Madara and bowing lightly in apology. Madara didn’t really pay attention to that. He wasn’t offended. But then, she paused, and a nervous look appeared in her eyes. She looked down instantly.

"I keep doing this to you..." she stammered embarrassedly. "Bumping into you and... falling... and tripping..."

That last part wasn’t necessarily true. She hadn’t been doing that. But she might as well have been.

"And... I..." she stuttered, trying to begin again. She stopped and sighed in an effort to compose herself, continuing in a much softer voice.

"I never thanked you for catching me..." she said quietly. "Back on that mountain..."

He hadn’t really thought this through, but he had a guess as to why she was nervous. It was probably the same burning nervousness he got when he felt very overwhelmingly inclined around her. It always hindered his ability to speak to her. He didn’t like that feeling for that reason, and normally he’d just sit there, trying to figure out a way to push it back down his own throat. But instead, almost as if he had planned for it, he found his hand on her cheek and his lips on her own.

Kiyoko was definitely surprised, but that didn’t last for too long. She had been about to continue, but she suddenly forgot everything and pushed back into him. She didn’t really know what to do with her hands, but they gently found a nice place to brush around his neck on their own.

The past few times he had felt inclined to do this, he hadn’t been sure about the appropriateness of it. It always caught him at the strangest moments, and he felt like this whole thing was based on an intuition which he didn’t possess. But this time, he just  _ knew _ for some reason, and he stopped holding himself back. She pushed towards him some, and he kissed her once more before pulling back. Her hands were so dainty on the back of his neck, and the feeling of them brushing underneath his hair almost made him shudder. He really liked that feeling, surprisingly. He rested his forehead gently upon her own, looking down upon her closed eyes, and he felt very inclined again. But he wanted to look into her eyes. He wanted to look at her face. He wanted to feel her skin under his hand, to feel her hair run through his fingers, to smell her scent that made him feel so willing to do these things.

"Madara-sama?" called a voice, and Madara pulled entirely away from her, looking down the hallway in shock. Kiyoko looked too, almost terrified, but nobody was down there. A servant was looking for him; they just hadn’t found him yet. Kiyoko felt a bit relieved that no one had seen them.

Suddenly, panic washed over her. She didn’t know how to get back to her room.

"How do I get back?" she whispered, trying to keep her voice from sounding frenzied. "I don’t know where I am!" Madara looked back at her and then down the next hallway. He pointed at a door down the hall a few yards.

"Use that door," he said quickly. "Find a servant." Kiyoko nodded, taking off down the shorter hallway while Madara proceeded down the longer one where he had come from.

Finally, he met the servant who had called his name, and she told him that he had a visitor who requested to speak to him privately. When he walked into his office, he found Hashirama standing there with a facial expression that didn’t match his usual peppiness.

" _ Yōkoso _ ," Madara said, and Hashirama bowed lightly.

" _ Arigatōgozaimasu _ ," the hokage returned. Madara found his seat beside his desk and Hashirama sat down as well. He cleared his throat before speaking again.

"Madara," he began. "I need to speak with you about our alliance with Iwagakure."

Already, Madara didn’t like where this conversation was going. He said nothing, and only stared at Hashirama calmly.

"Konoha's relations with Iwagakure have been going severely downhill," Hashirama said, and the tone of his voice hinted that he knew something. This displeased Madara even more, but he kept it hidden for the time being.

"And I was unaware that this was happening until recently, when I tried to contact them about business," Hashirama went on. "They seemed very distant and very hesitant to cooperate in any of kind of trade with us."

"Then perhaps their usefulness to Konoha has run its course," Madara said simply. Hashirama paused only for a moment before continuing.

"I was under the assumption that our relationship with Iwagakure was prospering," Hashirama stated.

"And it was," Madara replied. "Until they decided that the alliance gave them more power than it did."

"Alliances are not meant to give power," Hashirama said without hesitation. "They are meant to destroy the need for power."

"If there is no one country in power, there is no order among the rest of them," Madara said back, their conversation starting to heat up.

"We are not trying to establish ourselves as a country in power," Hashirama said, trying to keep his cool. Madara was already starting to narrow his eyes in discontent. They both knew where this was going.

"If I didn’t establish that, Konoha would never have the connections that it has now," Madara snarled as civilly as he could muster.

"That is not why I sent you to Iwa!" Hashirama stated loudly, ceasing the argument. Madara stopped speaking, fire in his eyes. He knew now, without a doubt, that he and Hashirama were not on the same page anymore. They were drifting apart.

"I sent you to Iwagakure to affirm an alliance, not break it," Hashirama continued, in a much quieter voice, but it still retained its forcefulness. "I sent you to create peace, not disagreements."

"And you call  _ this _ , what we’re living in right now, peace?!" Madara whispered fiercely. Hashirama’s eyes widened as a wave of anger hit him.

"Don’t you see what’s happening?!" he almost yelled, trying to control his temper. "Look around you!"

"I’ve  _ been _ looking around!" Madara roared, almost losing his grasp on his own temper. "This village has been damned from the beginning, Hashirama!"

"Then you speak to  _ me _ about your concerns!" Hashirama shouted back. "You can’t just go out and do your own thing like that!"

Madara was so angry at this point that he couldn’t say a word. He could only stare at Hashirama coldly, as both of them caught their breaths for a moment. The atmosphere in the room was tense, but the long silence between them managed to cool things down some.

"Mito is pregnant," Hashirama said finally, and he took a deep breath. "I’m sorry that I yelled. I’ve had a lot on my mind lately. Please forgive me for my curtness." Madara was now just looking at him with his eyes narrowed, a look closer to that of his normal discontented expression. He felt indifferent despite the fact that this was supposed to be good news. It was just very poorly timed in Madara’s opinion.

"If you would like to speak to me about your plans, do not hesitate to visit me at my office," Hashirama added after another pause. "I will be glad to listen to and consider your ideas." For some reason, Madara highly doubted this would ever happen. He tucked that thought away for the moment as Hashirama stood. Madara stood as well, and Hashirama excused himself, saying that he would be in his office. Madara forced himself to nod slightly, and Hashirama exited the room in order to leave. Madara didn’t even bother escorting him out. Instead, he sat down at his desk again, and let his discontented thoughts overtake his mind.

* * *

Kiyoko ran and ran until she got to a hallway she recognized, and found her old room and shut the door behind her. She ran over to the closet, pulled out a futon and hastily unrolled it. Then, she sat on it, the luxuriously soft bed she dreamed of constantly, and wrapped herself completely in the quilt. She finally stopped and sat there, motionless. He had kissed her.

However he managed to sweep her off her feet, he always did so unexpectedly. She didn’t expect him to look at her the way he did half the time. So, she  _ really  _ didn’t expect him to kiss her. But he gave no warning and kissed her, and she couldn’t stop thinking about it. He almost seemed like he would have kissed her again, if given half a chance. She wouldn’t have protested.

Her heart was finally slowing down, mainly from the running. It wasn’t like it was unacceptable for her to be staying in Madara’s home for a few hours until the rain stopped. It was just that being caught doing so was unacceptable. The public eye didn’t need to know of their little faux pas, though, so as long as they kept it a secret, everything was alright. Besides, Kiyoko knew that Madara was honorable, so there was really no need to be uptight.

Kiyoko pulled the quilt off her head and perked her ears up, listening as someone spoke with Madara. It didn’t seem to be a happy talk at all. She couldn’t make out exact words, but she could hear distinctly different voices. After a while, the man left, and the Uchiha household was quiet again.

Kiyoko sat quietly for a moment. Then, realizing that she had never changed her clothes earlier, she stood up and carefully opened the door from her room to the hallway.

"Maid?" she whispered down the hallway, and a single maid peeked her head out of a room further down.

"Yes, Miss Kiyoko?" the maid responded, just as quietly. She came out of the room she was in and bowed in obedience, and Kiyoko smiled softly.

"Could you help me change my dress?" Kiyoko asked, her own dress still a bit wet from the rain. The maid nodded.

"Anything specific in mind?" she inquired, and Kiyoko looked at the maid with a confused expression. Then, she understood what the maid was suggesting. Now she felt a bit uncomfortable.

"Just something simple," she responded. After saying that, she tried to contain a blush, realizing that the maid probably took her answer to mean something else. The maid nodded, paying no mind to Kiyoko’s embarrassment, which made Kiyoko feel grateful and nervous at the same time.

The maid dressed her in a very simple, lightweight kimono for wearing around the house. Kiyoko could have put it on herself if she needed to. She thanked the maid, who promised to return her clothes to her dry before she left that day. Then, Kiyoko was left by herself again, her heart beating fast as her thoughts swirled through her mind. Was that kind of thing really going to happen?

* * *

Madara was still sitting behind his desk, neck deep in his own thoughts. His disagreements with Hashirama were really beginning to worsen. He didn’t think things were being done the way they should, and now Hashirama was making things personal. He was also still in an awful mood from their fight earlier.

Just then, he heard a maid knock on the door to his office. He really didn’t want to be bothered.

"What is it?" he snapped, not bothering to turn around. He heard the door open behind him without a response, and he became even more displeased. He turned his head to bark even more at this maid, but it wasn’t a maid. It was Kiyoko, kneeling at the doorway, as if she were a servant.

Madara widened his eyes in shock. Then he sighed.

"Forgive me," he muttered, and she shook her head, looking down. Madara looked down too, seeing how she was dressed. She was beautiful, like she always was. She looked so pure though, and suddenly, Madara felt something tearing in him to get out. He didn’t like that feeling. He tried to suppress it every time it came up, but nothing he did seemed to work. He was beginning to think something was wrong with him.

Kiyoko stood quietly and came into the room. She looked nervous. Madara could feel it. His own nerves were going berserk, and he didn’t know why. He tried to hide it as best as he could.

"It appears the rain won't be stopping anytime soon," she said softly, kneeling close to him. His heart was beating so fast, he was sure that if he spoke, his insides would explode. He took a deep breath to try and slow down. He couldn’t muster any words, so he replied with a "hn" of acknowledgment.

She didn’t say anything after that. She could barely look at him. Should he have kissed her before? Things had taken such an awkward turn all of a sudden. Her clothes were so light. It was just a white house kimono. Why did it have to be a white house kimono? Why did it have to be tearing him apart on the inside? Why did he feel this enormous pressure in his chest, screaming and clawing to get out?

She was too young. She was much too young for him. And she was much too close to him. He did everything he could to stay put and look composed, using every bit of mental strength he could muster. She was giving him a tough time, and it was likely she didn’t even know it.

"And it is rather cold all of a sudden," she said hesitantly, and Madara took in a careful breath. He didn’t know what to say or do. What did she want, blankets? He didn’t know where to find extra blankets. He didn’t know why she was telling him this, out of all things. And he especially didn’t know why his thoughts were overflowing his mind. He couldn’t stop thinking about one thing particular, and it frustrated him. His stomach felt as though someone had released a thousand hummingbirds in it, all fluttering around rapidly. All he knew was that this was a dangerous state he was in, and he needed to control it.

"May I stay here with you?" she added, after receiving no response from him. He wanted to act as natural as possible. Everything was happening in slow motion, and it was killing him. Every part of his body wanted to reach out and grasp her. The look on her face begged him to kiss her. She wasn’t asking to stay; she was asking to be kissed again. She wanted his companionship. He couldn’t do it. His mind was screaming no, his body was screaming yes, and his soul was on fire.

All Madara could do was nod and make another "hn" in acknowledgment. She swallowed and looked down from his face again. Slowly, she laid her head on his thigh, and he felt her touch shoot through his body. She needed to fall asleep fast, otherwise he wouldn’t be able to take it.

He turned his attention to his desk and all the papers scattered about all over it. He tried to read them, but none of the words had any meaning to him. All he could do was run his eyes up and down the papers and scrolls. He couldn’t even concentrate enough to read. He checked on her. Her eyes were barely open. Only a little while longer before she’d fall asleep. He returned to leafing through papers, staring at meaningless letters and words, eventually turning his gaze to the candle that burned on his desk. He watched it burn the wax down little by little, and to every drop of wax that ran down the side, he gave all of his attention.

By the time he turned his attention back to Kiyoko, she was breathing steadily, a sign that she was asleep. He swallowed. The dim candlelight made her face glow. The rain had stopped now.

He had to move her. He had to get her away from himself. He was pulled so tightly to her now that if he let her in any further, he knew he would defile her. He couldn’t. She was so young, and she was unmarried, and he couldn’t do it. He wouldn’t let himself. He picked her up carefully, resisting the urge to caress her and hold her there, and placed her gently in his bed in the next room, pulling the covers up over her shoulders. He looked down at her for a moment too long, and instantly, the longing and pining washed over him like a waterfall again, and he could barely hold himself still. He recoiled slightly when she stirred and quickly went back to his desk in the adjacent room, only casting a glance in her direction when he dared to be hit by a wave of want.

After a little while, he heard her stir again. It took a few moments for her to get her bearings and wake up entirely, but she did, and then she sat up.

"Do not come over here," Madara warned suddenly, and Kiyoko froze. He had one eye on her, holding her where she was in a fierce, gripping gaze. "I would rather you not lose your purity at such a young age." A young, beautiful, spotless, fair-skinned age, he added mentally, before threatening to stab himself to keep from thinking such dangerous things.

She did not move, and a wave of fear appeared to run over her. She was afraid, which was what he wanted. Anything for her to keep her distance for a little while longer. But he knew deep down that it wasn’t going to work. She was not afraid of him personally. She was simply afraid of his carnal urges: his beast-like, male lust which was seeping through his words. He knew he wouldn’t be able to control this forever, and he deeply hated himself for it, but even more so now, he was beginning to see that Hashirama was wrong about this as well.

"Are you alright?" she asked meekly. Why did she need to speak? Her voice was enough to murder the guard he had up on all sides of his mind: enough to destroy the chains he had fused to his heart and the cuffs he had used to restrain his muscles from doing as they pleased.

"I’m afraid that’s a poorly-timed question," he said shortly, frantically rebuilding everything she had torn down of his. He couldn’t fall apart now. If only he could leave the room. If only he could end this now. If only he could drop all restraints. He couldn’t stand it any longer. He had possessed this desire for far too long, and he couldn’t bear to keep it inside any longer. If he was ever going to be free, he needed to release something. It was scorching his soul every time he took a breath in her presence.

"Will you be my wife?" he asked suddenly, dangerously on the edge of beseeching her instead. She was visibly shocked. His question didn’t seem to have context to her, and it created confusion in her brain.

"Yes," she said, after surprisingly little hesitation upon considering his offer. He blinked in surprise for only a moment, and then proceeded to furiously, but painstakingly, write on a piece of paper on his desk. Kiyoko tried to extend her neck to see what he was writing, but she couldn’t. Finally, he stopped. He turned back to her and captivated her with his eyes again.

"Come here," he said, and she blinked in hesitation, remembering his warning only a few minutes prior. She heeded his command, though, and humbly made her way to his side. She looked down at his desk.

There was a marriage contract. He had signed his name, and all that was left was for her to sign hers. She picked up the brush, dipped it in ink, and proceeded to carefully write her name on the document. She then placed the brush back in its stand and looked at the entire document, still in shock. She became aware of his gaze upon her and looked up at him.

He was about to be her husband. She was about to be his wife. This was all she could think when she saw him looking down at her. She wanted to be ready for that. She wanted to feel ready. No matter how much she tried to make it feel natural, she couldn’t. How could she feel natural when she was afraid? She wasn’t afraid of him. She was just afraid of becoming his, as much as she wanted to be ready to do so. It was all happening so quickly.

She buried her face in his chest, asking for comfort in return. He had nothing to give except a hesitant and careful embrace. He was uncomfortable to have her in his arms, not because he didn’t want her there, but because he didn’t understand why he did.


	20. Chapter 20

The day came faster than anyone expected. The Uchiha didn’t seem to be pleased about the idea, but there wasn’t much they could do with Madara as their leader. It made Kiyoko even more uneasy. All eyes were on her now.

She had tried to be happy about this wedding. She was deep down inside, but she was also scared. She didn’t know how to be a wife. But she was supposed to be happy. Everything was supposed to get better from this point on. She just had to keep telling herself that. Things would get better once she got married. That was the only thing she could rely on.

Everyone else had seemed overjoyed that the marriage was finally happening. She had run to all the way to the blacksmith’s shop the day that Madara proposed to her and told her brothers. They were so happy for her. As if the blacksmith’s shop was the epicenter, the news spread in all directions from there. By the time she got to the Senju household to tell Mito, they had already heard. Mito was genuinely excited for her. Hashirama was happy as well, but the look on his face was slightly troubled. He apologized and said that he had a lot on his mind, but congratulated Kiyoko nonetheless.

Although Kiyoko tried to feel just as overjoyed as everyone else, it was hard when she had an underlying feeling of fear. When she tried to explain it to Mito, Mito told her that her fear was only natural, and that she’d be alright. Kiyoko clung to that hope, but still couldn’t shake the feeling entirely. But marriage would end that fear. She just knew it.

That was all a month ago.

Kiyoko woke up early that morning to maids knocking on her door. The night before the wedding, she had moved all of her belongings to Madara’s house, and she had slept there so it would be easier to get ready in the morning.

The maids dragged her out of bed and hurried her out the door to another room in Madara’s residence. She was so tired. She couldn’t sleep the night before. This was all happening so fast.

She arrived in a parlor on the east wing of Madara’s home. There were already two Uchiha ladies there, and they beckoned her to strip down to her  _ hadajuban _ . First, the older lady did her hair, and the younger one softened her hands with oils. No words were exchanged between them. Kiyoko was too afraid to speak unless spoken to, for fear of saying something that might offend the Uchiha women. They already appeared to not like her, and she didn’t want to start anything. She wanted it to be a calm and peaceful day.

Her hair took two hours to finish. Then, the older lady left to arrange Kiyoko’s wedding kimono for the dressing process. The younger lady picked up bowls and brushes and began to mix white paint. As she held the brush up to Kiyoko’s face, she suddenly stopped.

Kiyoko tried not to act moved, but the lady was staring at her. Kiyoko finally let herself look back at the lady and found her with a shocked expression on her face.

"Sasuko," she said to the other Uchiha woman, who was organizing Kiyoko’s kimono. "She’s almost as fair as the paint..."

The older woman came over and looked at the paint, then Kiyoko’s face. She had some color, so it wasn’t that she was totally porcelain. The older lady smiled at Kiyoko, and it shocked her to receive a smile from an Uchiha.

"You have beautiful skin," she said, and Kiyoko could tell it was genuine. Her heart jumped a little, and she lowered her face in embarrassment.

" _ Arigatōgozaimasu _ ," she said softly, feeling her cheeks flush. The younger woman smiled now.

"Use a light coat," the older woman instructed the younger one, and then she returned to readying the kimono. The younger woman heeded her elder, and painted Kiyoko’s face with a light layer of white. She then took red and painted her lips and black to line her eyes and brows. She found a powder that was close to Kiyoko’s blush color and barely dusted her cheeks so her natural blush could shine through the white paint. Then, she held up a mirror, smiling.

"What a face," said the woman, and Kiyoko could only stare at herself in shock. She’d never seen or imagined herself in wedding makeup. She was beautiful. She was afraid that she wouldn’t look like herself after all of it was put on, but she was still easily recognizable, which was a relief. Kiyoko smiled in thanks.

The two ladies then took the big wedding kimono and began to dress Kiyoko. It took another two hours, and Kiyoko now realized why the maids had woken her up so early in the morning. Finally, they placed the _tsunokakushi_ over her head, and brought her over to a full length mirror.

Kiyoko couldn’t have imagined what she was going to look like as a bride. She never seemed to think about it much growing up. She didn’t witness very many weddings. She was grateful that the ladies were holding her, because she might have fainted at the sight of herself. She looked so different, she couldn’t recognize herself except for her face and hands. She looked like a bride, that much she knew.

* * *

Madara had to sit through a grueling one hour process in order to get his hair ready. He couldn’t understand why his hair had to take so long, as opposed to any other part of him, for the wedding. He didn’t understand why this simple thing had to take so much time. Apparently, Kiyoko had gotten up even earlier than he did, so he couldn’t really complain. Still, he didn’t like it in the least.

He didn’t want to wear his hair up in a ponytail. As formal as it looked (or as formal as the ladies said it looked), he didn’t like it. It didn’t look like something he would ever do with his hair, and he wanted to remain the same. He wouldn’t let the ladies put his hair up, no matter how much they pleaded with him.

"You’re a stubborn one," said the eldest lady in the room, finally shooing away the younger lady who was fixing up his hair. "You could at least comb out your hair to make it easier." Madara scowled at the wall in front of him in response.

Finally, the ladies began dressing him in a _montsuki_ , _hakama_ , _haori_ , and _pompom himo_ to tie it all together. When they were done, the oldest one took a step back and inspected him. She shook her head.

"I say the hair should go up," she said, and Madara, sighed, asserting his will once again. He would not have his hair tied up.

"It will be more formal," the lady continued, paying no mind to his attitude. She instructed for one lady to hold a mirror up in front of him while she pulled his hair back and held it in a ponytail.

"See?" she said, allowing him to look at his reflection in the mirror. "It doesn’t look bad at all. It looks better."

At this point, Madara just wanted to do anything to get away from them and out of this stuffy room. The kimono was made of rather heavy material, and all of this frustration was making him sweat. He finally gave in, but only so he could get out of there. It was much cooler outside than it was in his house.

The woman tied his hair back and finally allowed him to leave the room. Hashirama was waiting outside in the hallway, and smiled when Madara came into view.

"Doesn’t it feel incredible?" Hashirama said. "To this day, I’ve never felt as much excitement and joy as I have on my wedding day." Madara didn’t say anything in return. It didn’t feel incredible. He wanted it to feel incredible, and Hashirama promised it would bring joy and excitement, and maybe even peace, but so far, it wasn’t proving to be true.

"Just wait until you see her," Hashirama said, as they walked down the hallway to prepare for the big reveal. "Your jaw will hit the floor. It is the best moment of my life to date." Madara had no idea what to expect. Kiyoko in a white kimono? Wouldn’t that be it? He’d already seen her in a blue kimono, so a white one wouldn’t be too much of a change. Was it all Hashirama was making it out to be? Was this really a big deal? He just wanted it over with. He maybe even wanted to be alone with Kiyoko. There was too much happening: too much stress.

Kiyoko was to meet Madara right inside the front door of his home. They would walk outside together, and then the procession would begin making its way to the shrine. He made it to the front hall, right by the main shoji door, which was open. The autumn breeze was blowing softly. There were birds chirping. The morning sun was peeking through the clouds daintily. He saw her come out of a room on the opposite side of the door from him. He just stood there, waiting. She hadn’t looked up yet. She was watching where she was walking, and being helped with holding up the bottom of her dress to keep from stepping on it. This wasn’t a big deal. She was wearing an elaborate white kimono, and the  _ tsunokakushi _ was hiding her face from full view. It was pretty, but whatever Hashirama was expecting him to feel, he didn’t feel. His jaw was still attached to his head. It was just a kimono.

Then, she looked up at him.

_ Doki. _

He did not expect this. Why it was that her lips drove him insane, he didn’t know. He couldn’t place what it was that tugged at him when they curled into a small smile. He couldn’t understand why her eyes pierced his soul like this. He couldn’t explain why the perfection of her fair complection made his heart beat faster. He didn’t know the reason for which a simple white kimono could amplify every feeling he’d ever felt around her and focus it all on one point in his heart. He didn’t understand why a feeling so strong it threatened to split his heart in two could be so desirable to other men. He didn’t understand why it moved him so much that Kiyoko was about to be his.

_ Doki. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ** "Doki" is the Japanese onomatopoeia for a heartbeat (the literal "ba-thump!" sound) that is usually quickening in anticipation or excitement; also related to the term "butterflies in my stomach."


	21. Chapter 21

For an autumn day, it was still quite hot outside. Bright oranges, yellows, and reds were all around the wedding procession as they continued toward the shrine for the ceremony. Kiyoko was trying to keep her focus on the procession, but her mind wandered. She couldn’t have possibly imagined the grandeur of it all: the colors, the wind, the people. She didn’t know weddings could be such a big deal. Madara was a wealthy man, but she hadn’t foreseen that her own wedding would be so big.

She tried to take it all in: the sights and the sounds. It was all astounding to her. And what intrigued her probably the most was the fact that their wedding had a significant audience. The streets were lined with people wanting to catch a glimpse of the bride and groom passing by, children with wistful and dreamy looks plastered across their faces, adults filled with awe and happiness. Everyone seemed so happy. All the women wanted to be her, and she knew it. She just felt strange about it. As composed as she looked walking through the streets of Konoha, she had an underlying feeling that she didn’t quite understand. There were so many people, and everyone seemed happy. Everyone offered their congratulations. It almost felt like a holiday, and it confused her.

The procession finally arrived at the shrine, and the ceremony began. Madara wanted this to be over and done with. He didn’t want things to drag on for too terribly long. They didn’t need to. Not to say that the ceremony wasn’t important, but he wanted to return to a somewhat private life again. There was so much happening at once, and the more he tried to focus on what was happening in the moment, the more he found himself thinking about other things.

Even during the reading of the traditional vows, Madara felt as though he was sitting inside his own head and listening to himself speak. He wrote them all down for himself a few days ago, just like any other groom would have. He read them perfectly. But he couldn’t seem to concentrate on one thing at a time. He wasn’t even listening to himself speak, which was probably a dangerous practice, but he could only concentrate on a new feeling that was growing inside of him. He was almost free now, but no matter what, the feeling wouldn’t go away. It had to, though. It would go away eventually. He was grasping onto this hope like it was entirely the truth. It had to be. What else was there?

Kiyoko found herself almost drowning in thoughts. She heard every word that was said to her, but sometimes they just seemed to travel right through her before she could grasp their meaning. Madara read their wedding vows for the congregation, and she heard every word. She listened to that. But from what Kiyoko heard, she judged that Madara didn’t sound much like himself. The vows just didn’t sound at all like something he would say. They were nothing that he’d ever said before, and they were nothing that she could imagine him saying. It didn’t feel fitting, despite its long-lasting tradition.

It all felt out of place, despite the fact that it was supposed to feel wonderful. Kiyoko couldn’t understand why. Was there something wrong with her? Was she supposed to feel like this? Mito had assured her that she was only nervous and it was natural, and that was what Kiyoko tried to pin the blame on, but somehow she was still unsure.

A wave of relief washed over both of them when the ceremony finally ended, and the procession was free to exit the shrine. The wedding reception was going to be held in the same park Hashirama and Mito had theirs, so it was a familiar setting. Even after the ceremony ended, though, the stress was still heightening.

The two were rushed into a traditional style building to allow Kiyoko to change out of her heavy white kimono and into a kimono that displayed the Uchiha family crest on it. The whole time, she felt faint. It was incredibly hot now that it was midday, and with everything bustling around her, she was not in the greatest position.

Madara wasn’t exactly comfortable either. Hashirama and Mito had come in along with them, and while Mito was helping Kiyoko change, Hashirama and Madara were left in another room together to wait. Madara was already feeling a bit on edge due to all the publicity, and he wasn’t too excited for the reception. He knew what was coming.

"Do we have to do this?" he asked the hokage, refraining from the urge to groan.

"It’s a tradition of Konoha for the newlyweds to be presented to the congregation at the beginning of the reception, Madara," Hashirama said, still beaming. "It will only last for a short time." Madara heaved a sigh. He didn’t like this one bit. But he would deal with it. It would be over soon. He wouldn’t have to wait for much longer now.

Back in a different room, Kiyoko was burning up, she felt like. She was quite happy to stand in the middle of the room with only her  _ hadajuban _ on, for it was quite lightweight and much cooler for her. But then she had to put another kimono on. This had the Uchiha crest on each shoulder. She stared at the crest on her shoulder for a bit as Mito fixed her up. Then, it began to get hot again.

"It’s so hot," Kiyoko said, trying to fan herself. Mito finished tying her obi and stepped in front of her friend to inspect her.

"It’s almost over," Mito replied, using her hands to delicately smooth out Kiyoko’s sleeves. She ushered Kiyoko out of the room and let the rest of the ladies take care of Kiyoko’s white kimono.

Madara noticed Kiyoko emerge from the separate room where she had been changing. She was wearing a black kimono with a colorful floral pattern on the bottom of the skirt. The Uchiha crest was sitting proudly at the front of each of her shoulders. But she looked exhausted. Mito handed her a folding fan and helped her take a seat, after which Kiyoko began to rapidly fan herself. Madara furrowed his eyebrows in worried discontent and turned slightly toward Hashirama, who was peeking through a crack in the shoji door that led out to the reception.

"Is this  _ really  _ necessary?" Madara said in a low voice to the Senju, keeping his eyes on the woman who was frantically fanning herself to ward off the heat. Hashirama didn’t turn his head. He was watching for the right time for the presentation.

"Yes," he replied, smiling a bit. "It’s a little nerve-wracking, but you’ll be fine."

"That’s not what I’m worried about," Madara muttered in response, but Hashirama must not have been paying attention enough to notice. The man’s eyes lit up a little bit, and then he turned towards the couple.

"Alright," he said, motioning towards the large door in front of him. "It’s time!"

Madara swallowed unconsciously. His eyes only left Kiyoko for a second. He didn’t like this.

Kiyoko stood up reluctantly from the stool she was sitting on and gave Mito her fan. She wasn’t sure she was ready for this. Hashirama and Mito took their positions at the shoji double doors and then, nodding to each other, they slid them open, ushering Madara and Kiyoko out onto the porch.

It was almost as though all of Konoha was there. People of all ages were gathered, waiting to see them. It was colorful and beautiful, and the atmosphere was almost too perfect to be believable. It certainly was perfect, though. It was exactly how everyone knew it would be, and then even grander than their minds could have fathomed. The most highly anticipated wedding in all of Konoha had truly happened, and now, there they were, being presented before the public eye exactly as they should have been. All was exactly as it should have been.

"I present to you: Uchiha Madara and Uchiha Kiyoko!" came the announcement that everyone had been waiting for. Applause filled the air, and happiness erupted in everyone’s hearts. Finally, they said. After all the anticipation, it finally came to be.

The entirety of Konoha couldn’t have been more pleased. Even the Uchiha had a reason to be somewhat pleased. The leader of their clan now had a wife, and with a wife, he’d be able to produce a family that would sit at the head of the clan. This was quite encouraged in clans of such high status and prominence. This marriage was the beginning of a long road of prosperous living, that was for sure.

There was no reason for anyone to feel sad that day. There was no way that the nervous looks on their faces meant anything more than stage fright to the crowd. The way the new husband and wife froze as the crowd of people erupted didn’t mean anything to Konoha. They didn’t notice the looks of anxiousness the couple exchanged, slowly turning their heads toward one another in doubt. Nobody noticed the great leader of the Uchiha clan’s inability to move from his frozen position. Nobody noticed the sweat running down his brow. Nobody noticed his wife’s quickened breathing, or the quiet whispers she made to herself, repetitively commanding herself not to faint in front of all these people. Nobody knew of Kiyoko’s urge to grab Madara’s hand in reassurance, for it was only inches away from her own. Nobody saw as she stretched her fingers out, but suddenly retracted them, unable to touch the hand of her own husband in an attempt to receive the comfort she so desperately needed. Nobody knew that right then, in the midst of all the grandeur and celebration, the very subjects of this celebration were facing one powerful and potentially threatening doubt.

_ Was this a mistake? _


	22. Chapter 22

The reception dragged on for hours after that. Kiyoko changed her kimono three times during the reception. Madara couldn’t fathom any reason why she’d need to, but he supposed it was a thing that women did. She looked just fine in all of them. Maybe she just couldn’t decide which one she liked. She didn’t really say a whole lot about it, though. He figured that her wardrobe changes weren’t entirely her idea. Nonetheless, she looked beautiful in all of them.

Neither one of them really made conversation with each other. There was so much happening at the party, and Madara wasn’t really in the mood for anything more than small talk (and even that was a stretch). He wanted this whole thing to be over already. Kiyoko didn’t say anything about it, but Madara figured she was thinking the same thing. She started to look quite tired.

Even after darkness fell, the party continued. It got dark early during that time of the year, though, so just because it was dark didn’t mean that it was late. Madara didn’t understand why things had to be so long and drawn out like this. He couldn’t leave his own wedding reception, which was quite an annoyance. He just wanted to be alone with Kiyoko. He wanted to be alone with his wife.

That thought almost made him shiver a bit. He wasn’t quite used to having a "wife." He wasn’t sure if he’d ever get used to it. It wasn’t something that he had always wanted growing up. It all happened quite quickly, in fact, and that troubled him a bit. He didn’t want to feel troubled about things tonight, though. Of all nights in his life, he wanted to feel at least a little bit at peace during this one. The only thing he would let himself gripe about was not being able to go back to his home.

It was almost midnight when the party ended. Thankfully, Madara had managed to avoid the alcohol without anyone noticing, and he had ushered Kiyoko away from the festivities as well. She appreciated it, but still didn’t speak a whole lot to him. He didn’t expect a whole lot; he hadn’t said anything to her either. It was something that was just mutually understood.

Madara’s aptness in avoiding things didn’t stop there. In order to bypass the crowd of guests leaving (and especially those of which were intoxicated), Madara excused himself and his new wife a bit early from the party and took a narrow, back street of Konoha in order to return to his home.

As the noise from the party slowly dissipated behind them, everything became quiet again. The silence around the two only exemplified the silence between them. Of course, Madara didn’t really expect her to say much of anything. He never did. She always just said something without him ever making any mental input or preparation. He never had to coax her into speaking; she just did on her own.

But she said nothing now. She was totally silent. It was almost as if she was being shy, a personality trait Madara had never seen in her. She was never shy around him; only confident and proud. It was so odd to him to note that for the first time since he met her two years ago, she had seemingly nothing to say.

That bothered him a little bit. He knew why this was happening. He knew it was his fault, too. She was scared. She was a little girl, and she was scared: scared of him. He knew it. He had known it going into everything, but for some reason, he had brushed it all off at the time. He didn’t want anything getting in the way. He didn’t want anything getting in  _ his  _ way.

He didn’t blame her for being silent. His body was teeming with all kinds of invisible frustration now: with people, with drunkards, with Hashirama, with himself. If it was all supposed to be so great, this thing called marriage,  _ then why did it feel terrible? _

After what seemed like an eternity, the two finally reached Madara’s home. Kiyoko looked ahead at it, the reflection of the light inside his house showing in her eyes. Madara looked ahead, too, hoping he could see what she saw. He could only imagine how foreign it must have felt to her, having to live in a new home all of a sudden. He didn’t have to deal with that. This was his home; he’d always lived here.  _ How could he have been so selfish? _

Upon entering his home, the two of them just stood there. Madara had no clue what to say. Only an hour before, he had wanted to spend some alone time with her when they got back home, but he was unsure now. He hadn’t planned to feel like this. He couldn’t do this to her.

She was totally silent as well, looking at him, as if she was expecting him to say something. But he had nothing to say. He didn’t know what she wanted him to say in all of this. He knew what he had wanted. But he couldn’t do that now. Not to her. What had he done? Why had he done this to himself? To her?

She was so young. No matter how much they slathered her with makeup, no matter how extravagant her kimono were, she was always going to look much too young for him. She was always going to be fifteen years his minor. He had just turned forty this past year. From all his experience in overseeing engagements in the clan, he’d never seen a twenty-five-year-old marry a forty-year-old. All the couples he officialized had been young, and very close in age. Certainly, that must have made them closer to each other, or more relatable. Why did he think this was a good idea? Why had he entirely overlooked that?

Now, they were stuck. He knew she was afraid of him, just by looking into her eyes. She didn’t know what to do either. She was so innocent, so pure, and there he was, marrying her lustfully. He couldn’t be a younger man to her, no matter how much he tried. He would never be young like he was when he was her age. He couldn’t fulfill her in that way. And he knew why she was afraid, now. She couldn’t possibly be attracted to him in the way he was to her. He had only begun to understand this phenomenon dubbed sexual attractiveness. The only reason he could possibly think of himself as appealing to anyone of the opposite sex (or to anyone at all, sexually or not), was his status. There was nothing about himself he found to be aesthetically pleasing, and never, in all of his forty years, was he concerned about that, until now.

But it was obvious to him. Kiyoko was a beauty. He married her because he wanted that beauty all to himself. He didn’t have any regard for whether she was attracted to him in the same way at the time. He was blind. And now that he could see, he knew he had made a mistake. She wasn’t attracted to him like that, if at all.

Madara was never one to ignore a problem. If something was his fault, he’d take the blame for it and do his best to fix it. He took the blame. He wasn’t sure how to fix this, though. As the maids took Kiyoko to bathe her, Madara walked slowly to his room, deep in thought. Back when he was young, marriages had two sole purposes: an alliance between two families, and the production of children. This new kind of marriage seemed trivial to him, the more he thought about it. This thing young people called "love" was never the primary part of marriage in his time. Feelings were never present in the officialization of marriage. Marriages were instituted for the greater good of each clan, not for the bride and groom. When feelings became involved, people were prone to doing irrational things, just like Madara had done. Why he had ever let that happen, he didn’t know, but he was quite disappointed with himself for it.

But he did begin to see a way to solve this new dilemma. To eliminate feelings would be to eliminate all uncomfortable aspects of this marriage. With feelings gone, the marriage would become more practical. It wouldn’t be anything like these "love marriages," but it would be functional. Madara had been able to function nicely without letting his emotions get the better of him for most of his adult life. Perhaps this transition would be easier for Kiyoko if she adopted the same principles? He wasn’t sure, but it was better than nothing at the moment.

But there was still the question of where Kiyoko would sleep for tonight. Madara knew that this transition would take some time for her, and he didn’t want to rush her by any means. Before going to his room, he pulled a servant aside and told them to prepare a room for Kiyoko which was nearby to his. That way, if she had any concerns, she could easily find him, but she wasn’t forced to live right alongside him in the very same room.

As soon as the servant went about her new task, Madara returned to his room and sat down at his desk for a while. He was fully prepared to allow Kiyoko time and space to adjust. He felt that was the only way for things to work out. That was the only way he could fix what he had done. He knew better now.

Part of him still felt a bit unsure, though. He was tired of being unsure by now. He just wanted to feel the peace that he had been assured he would feel. But he didn’t feel it yet. Even in finding a solution to his problem, Madara still didn’t feel peaceful in his heart. He didn’t feel any kind of tranquility that had been promised to him. And that frustrated him. He looked at the papers scattered about his desk and then massaged his head for a moment. Then, without further ado, he delved into his work again. He needed to create peace around him in order to feel it inside.

* * *

Kiyoko was relieved to have her hair down again. Although it was beautiful, that hairstyle really hurt her scalp. The maids knew what they were doing, thankfully. They got her all cleaned up and dressed for bed, and then they showed her to her room.

Upon seeing where her room was, and noting that all of her belongings had been neatly moved there as well, Kiyoko stopped. She just looked at it for a moment, and then looked down the hallway. Madara’s room was a few yards down the hall. Kiyoko stared down the empty hall for a moment, and then looked down at her feet, a troubled expression on her face.

She quickly entered her room and looked at herself in the mirror. There she was, just like she always looked. She looked pretty as a bride, but she really appreciated herself how she normally looked. She didn’t like to wear makeup, and the hairstyle was much too extravagant for her. She sighed in relief. She looked alright.

She peeked her head out her doorway again, peering down in the direction of Madara’s room again. She was slightly confused. She had expected that after the wedding, she would be in the same room as Madara. Perhaps she didn’t know what she was talking about, but it did seem odd to her that she had her own room. But maybe it was something to be thankful for. It was likely that most wives were not as fortunate.

But Kiyoko had learned to live with little. She was used to living in a small home, and she was used to having very few possessions. She was used to being in close quarters with others. Madara’s home was quite large, which really didn’t bother her all too much. She had lived here before. She was quite used to it. But she had never lived here as a wife to the head of the household. That was enough to make her breath hitch.

Kiyoko could feel her heart sinking a little bit, though. She was supposed to be grateful for this. She was supposed to feel happy. Many women didn’t receive such things for being wives to men. But her heart only sank further into her chest with the thought of it. She felt lonely.

She wanted to go to Madara. She had been in his room before. But she couldn’t get herself to go to his room. Why had he given her a separate room? Did he not want her to be in the same room as he was? Was he working? Was he not interested in her in that way? Did he not . . . ?

Kiyoko felt her heart hit the floor. She scrambled to pick it up and took a step back from the doorway. He wouldn’t have married her if he didn’t. But he never said it to her. The more she thought about it, the more she felt the doubt creeping in. Sure, he never said it, but that didn’t mean he didn’t love her. He was a different kind of man. He didn’t display those kinds of things, but that didn’t mean he didn’t feel them. All during courtship, she had seen a different side of Madara come out that she had never seen before; a different side of him that was compassionate, a different side of him that had written her haiku, a different side that had kissed her. Of course he loved her. He just had a different way of showing it, that was all.

But where was this side of him now? Surely it was still there, somewhere deep inside of him. He liked to keep it tucked away from the public eye. The wedding must have hardened him up some, as it did for her. The thought of that wedding almost made her shudder. She was glad it was finally over, as beautiful as it was. She almost fainted four times.

She finally summoned the courage to return to her spot at the doorway. She peeked down the hall once again. She was on the fence. Should she bother him? He was probably working, and if he was, she would feel bad for interrupting. But she wanted to say good night, even if it was quick. But she didn’t want to break his concentration. He was probably working on something important. She could still see light coming from his room. It was totally quiet. Kiyoko could hear her own heartbeat, and that was it. Not even the crickets dared to chirp.

Kiyoko looked down at the tatami in the hallway, and then at her own feet. She didn’t know what she should do. Her heart was beating so quickly. This almost felt like a life or death situation.  _ What would a good wife do? _

She wouldn’t bother her husband in his work, that’s what. Kiyoko sighed softly. She turned from the doorway and slowly made her way across the room to where her futon was neatly rolled up. She unrolled it, and poked it. It was still as soft as she remembered. Then, she stopped.

Who was she kidding? If she wanted to say good night to him, surely it wouldn’t bother him for more than a few seconds. She was his wife, for goodness sake. Even her own mother said good night to her father. She was entitled to that much, and if she was going to take on the Uchiha name, she was entitled to a lot more than she was giving herself credit for.

So, with that, Kiyoko stood from her bed, and marched, barefoot, over to Madara’s room and stopped by his doorway. She kneeled, and then knocked. She didn’t hear a response, and her heart sank a little bit. Perhaps he really was too busy. She shouldn’t have done that. He was probably working on something important.

She stood up, and her vision went a bit fuzzy. She hated when that happened to her. It happened a lot. Sometimes she felt dizzy, but at least now it was only her vision that suffered. It would clear up in a matter of seconds.

Just then, Madara’s door slid open, and Kiyoko was standing there, face to face with her husband. Kiyoko froze. A look of shock was plastered across her face, and likewise, Madara’s face. For once, Kiyoko didn’t know what to say. It felt like her former determination had been totally drained from her body, and now all that was left was fear.

She couldn’t just stand there gaping at him, so she wiped the surprised look off her face and bit her lip before remembering what she came to his room to say.

" _ Oyasumi-nasai _ ," she said softly, almost whispering it. Now, why did she have to trail off like that? Now he was really going to wonder what was wrong with her. Kiyoko mentally chastised herself.

Madara blinked. His facial expression relaxed, but instead of the loving look Kiyoko was hoping to see in his eyes, she only saw emotionlessness. She saw stone. She saw what she saw when she first met him.

" _ Oyasumi _ ," he replied, and Kiyoko hovered there for a moment, before bowing and excusing herself. She scuttled back to her room and slid the door closed behind her, crawling into her bed. Her heart was now hanging lowly in her chest. She didn’t know how to take that sort of response.

Why she had allowed herself to expect more from him was the real question. She had gotten her hopes up, when she knew that he wasn’t one to display his feelings anyway. Of course he wasn’t going to say anything or do anything out of the ordinary. He wasn’t like that. And just because he didn’t openly act like it didn’t mean that he didn’t love her. Of course he did. He had to. She wanted him to.


	23. Chapter 23

As soon as Kiyoko had been married, there hadn’t really been a need for her to have a job. Since Madara was the head of the household, he provided for her, and she, in turn, was expected to provide for him. It was only the natural thing to do. That was how every household worked. That was how the Ookami household had worked as well. It was nothing new to Kiyoko.

The only new thing about it was the fact that Kiyoko had now changed roles. She was the wife now. The shock hadn’t quite worn off yet. She didn’t think about it all the time, but when she remembered it, it made her heart jump a little bit. She wasn’t sure if it was a good feeling or a bad feeling. It was just a feeling; that’s all she knew.

Slowly, but surely, Kiyoko began to adjust, though. Over time, she figured out when Madara liked to eat his breakfast, his lunch, and then his dinner. She kept track of time, and she would plan to cook meals accordingly. Generally, Madara seemed like the kind of person who liked consistency. The meals his servants prepared were all the same size and had a number of similar aspects in each one. These aspects could be varied in type, but usually not in size. So, when she felt she had a grasp on Madara’s schedule, Kiyoko stepped up to the plate and began preparing the meals herself.

She didn’t really need to do that, simply because Madara had hired servants to do that for him, and consequently for her or any guests they might have. But Kiyoko wanted to do this. She didn’t say it outright, but she wanted Madara to notice her.

It wasn’t that he literally didn’t notice her. He had just seemed so distant lately. He had been keeping to himself lately, and although that was a normal practice of his, Kiyoko felt a bit lonely. He used to really pay attention to her, she recollected. He used to make a point of it. But now, it seemed that he was buried in work all the time, and when he wasn’t, he just simply wasn’t around. When he was around, he didn’t say a whole lot, which really wasn’t a problem. Kiyoko supposed that it was something she would need to get used to. He was a busy man.

She couldn’t help but feel slightly inadequate to him, though. She missed the Madara she had once witnessed. It was almost as if he had forgotten about her, and although she knew that couldn’t possibly be true, that’s what it truly felt like. So, she did the only thing she could do: she tried to trigger his memory by cooking. Perhaps he would start to act like he used to if he ate something that she had prepared.

So, day after day, she cooked his meals, and then watched to see his reaction while they ate together. Not much happened at first, but Kiyoko wouldn’t let herself be deterred. She decided to get serious one night for dinner, and she baked the only thing she could think of that would get his attention:  _ inarizushi _ .

When the food was placed in front of him, Madara’s facial expression didn’t change all that much. But when he bit into one of the  _ inarizushi _ , his eyes lit up, and he looked across the table at Kiyoko. He knew that she cooked all of his meals, and he was appreciative of it, but this was a big step. Kiyoko gave him a shy smile before eating her own food.

They finished their meal in silence, and Madara set his chopsticks down neatly on his plate. Kiyoko looked at him expectantly.

Madara had his usual look on his face. It was a neutral look of sorts. He stood from the table, and then he looked down at Kiyoko, who was watching him intently, waiting for feedback. His facial expression didn’t change. But for a moment, the look in his eye almost looked like he was going to smile. Then, as quickly as it had happened, it died, and Madara exited the dining room without a second look.

Kiyoko’s heart sunk. She stood and slowly made her way out of the room, just as the servants were coming in to collect the empty plates and bowls. She trudged back to her room, and without even looking down the hall at Madara’s room, she entered her room and closed the door behind her.

He had almost smiled at her, but he hadn’t actually done it. Kiyoko sighed. She didn’t understand what she was doing wrong. Why didn’t he act like he used to around her? He always seemed so much more interested in her when they were courting, but now, everything seemed to be different.

Kiyoko shook her head. She didn’t know what she was going to do now, but moping wasn’t going to help. She unrolled her futon and changed for bed, and then, after sliding open the door to the courtyard, she slid into bed and listened to the crickets chirp, until she fell into a shallow, lonesome sleep.


	24. Chapter 24

Madara had been staying up rather late the past few nights. He had a lot on his mind, and at the moment, nothing seemed to be going quite as well as he hoped. Hashirama continually assured him that peace was being maintained in Konoha, and between Konoha and its allies.

Madara didn’t like the sound of it, though. In fact, ever since Hashirama was elected Hokage, Madara had been wary that the Senju were gaining too much power and influence in Konoha. And the more time passed, the more Madara realized that Hashirama had been doing to the Uchiha exactly what Madara had wanted to do with Konoha’s allies. The Senju were beginning to dominate and take control of Konoha, pushing the Uchiha out earshot and out of sight. Madara wasn’t too fond of this at all, especially since Hashirama had overlooked that very same policy when Madara had introduced it for use diplomatically.

As a result, Madara spent many of his nights thinking and researching, rather than sleeping. The deeper he delved into it, the more it seemed to consume him. He noticed things about Konoha that he had never noticed before, such as the inconspicuous, but very present segregation of the two clans throughout Konoha. Most of the Uchiha lived in one area of Konoha, while the Senju took up the rest of the village. On top of that, in the center of commerce, most Uchiha run businesses were clustered together in the same small area, while the Senju run businesses took up the rest of the space in the market. The more Madara looked, the more he found, so he looked constantly.

It got to a point where he hadn’t slept for three nights straight, and he was very tired. So, he decided to take a break. Even though he was being fed by Kiyoko’s wholesome cooking, he couldn’t run on that alone.

When he thought of her cooking, he thought back a few nights ago when she made  _ inarizushi _ . It was the first time he’d had it in a couple of months, and still, it was the best thing he had ever eaten. He really wished that she made it more often.

But he never really had the nerve to tell her how good it was. He wasn’t very good at that sort of thing. He wasn’t good at putting his feelings into words, and ever since he had started doing his research, his mind had been in a few places at once. He wished he was better at complimenting people. The best he could do was give indirect compliments, where he didn’t  _ actually _ compliment the person, but  _ implied _ it. It wasn’t a whole lot better, but it was better than nothing.

But he hadn’t said anything to her that night. He knew she was waiting for him to say something, which he absolutely hated. He couldn’t stand it when someone looked at him expectantly: it just put him on the spot, and he usually couldn’t come up with anything good to say. He felt a bit guilty, but he quickly dismissed it the other night. Kiyoko wasn’t that fragile. She knew how to stand on her own, and she didn’t need the compliments of men for sustenance.

So, he had ignored that feeling for three days now, and had buried himself in his work, only coming out of his office when absolutely necessary. But now, he was feeling exhausted, and he could only stare at his work. He needed to take a break from it all for a bit. Besides, all of Konoha’s problems would still be there when he returned, that was for sure.

It was early morning, barely sunrise yet. He glanced at himself in the mirror before exiting his room. He looked tired. There were circles forming under his eyes. He only sighed and continued out the door, closing it behind him.

He went out to his stables. None of his livestock seemed to be awake just yet. He found the stalls where his horses were kept, and he inspected them. He had two of them, and they were getting quite old now. They were starting to work rather slowly, and they were losing value. Since it was past harvest season, they weren’t needed for crops anymore, so Madara told a few of his servants to take them and sell them in the market. He knew a place just outside of Konoha where he could buy fresh horses, so he planned on going there later in the morning.

As soon as Madara came back in the house, he smelled food. Kiyoko was already up and cooking breakfast. She had caught on quickly as to what times Madara liked to have his meals, which was quite convenient, since he liked her cooking a whole lot more than his servants’. It wasn’t that the servants’ cooking was bad; it was just that Kiyoko did a good job. He didn’t know ordinary food could taste so incredible.

She seemed to be adjusting well to her new life. She was being quite functional even beyond cooking meals, and had taken an interest in a new hobby to occupy herself when she couldn’t visit Mito. A servant told him that she had taken to tending to the garden, and she even fed the koi herself, fending off the servants who offered to do it for her. Madara could only imagine that she was also spending much of her time writing, as he had received word that her brothers had moved out of Konoha and to a neighboring village. They had found better work for themselves there, and since it wasn’t too far from Konoha, they were able to visit on occasion.

Madara walked into the dining room and sat down across from Kiyoko, who had just taken her seat a moment earlier. The servants brought in their breakfast, and after saying a quiet "ittadakimasu," the two began to eat.

It was quiet for a little while, and Madara felt that he should tell Kiyoko of his plans for later that morning, just so she would know why he wasn’t home. He wasn’t too fond of breaking any kind of silence, but since Kiyoko was good at doing it gracefully, he figured that he could take a shot without it being too offensively shattered.

"Later this morning, I’m going to a horse trader just outside of Konoha to look at horses," Madara said, careful to control the volume of his voice. She looked up at him, a bit surprised. He had no idea why she looked at him like that. She didn’t say anything in response though, as if she was in shock.

"I decided to sell the two I owned previously," Madara explained, hoping to clear up any confusion as to why he was going to look at horses. She still looked at him with an odd expression, but it softened some. "They were getting old, and the older they are on the upscale, the less they’re worth."

Kiyoko’s facial expression was beginning to really confuse him. Did she not know anything about horses? Or had he shattered the silence so badly that she was in shock? Perhaps he had overestimated how forgiving she would be.

"May I come?" she asked timidly, and it was Madara’s turn to be shocked. He didn’t know that she’d want to come along for something like that. But, he supposed, if she was curious, it wouldn’t do any harm really. He didn’t mind all too much. He’d probably enjoy the company. And, this would make up for when he failed to adequately compliment her cooking a few nights prior.

"If you’d like," Madara replied after taking a pause to collect his thoughts again. Her face lit up like it was the best thing he’d ever said to her, and it startled him a bit. He’d only seen that smile once before, and that was when he had agreed to come along to the kimono fitting with her and her brothers. He had forgotten how charming it was. But, as quickly as she smiled, she hid it from view again, a bit embarrassed by her reaction.

"We will be leaving at eleven," Madara said, trying to pull Kiyoko out of her embarrassment. He didn’t really mind that she was excited to go. He just didn’t want her to be embarrassed by herself. Why should she be?

Kiyoko nodded, and after breakfast, she went to her room, presumably to get ready. Madara had forgotten to tell her to wear something other than a  _ yukata _ , and he hoped that she already knew to wear pants for this occasion. He didn’t want to bother her either, so he instead asked the servants for a report on the sale of his horses. Apparently, the younger of the two horses, which also happened to be the tallest, had already been bid on multiple times, while the older one had just a couple of bids. Considering that he had only sent them to the market a couple of hours ago, that was fairly decent. They would be out of his hands in no time.

About ten minutes before eleven, Kiyoko emerged from her room, ready to go. It never ceased to fascinate Madara how attentive she was to time. And, thankfully, she was also extremely apt with clothing choice. She was wearing casual long black pants and lightweight, light blue jacket with white accents. Madara had never seen these clothes before. She must have bought them recently. Regardless of what they looked like, they were appropriate for looking at horses, so with that, they headed on their way to the horse trader.

The walk there on foot took about an hour and a half, but thankfully, it was a cool day. It was a quiet walk for the most part, but every so often, they would converse with each other on simple matters. Kiyoko really liked nature, and her first few comments were about the colors of fall. Madara had forgotten how wonderful it was to the ear to allow Kiyoko to go on a monologue. Her voice was exactly like silk, so soft and tender and flowing. Madara found himself studying her like he used to. She had decided to wear her hair down today. It was even longer now, almost down to her hips, and slightly wavy.

Madara would only let himself observe her a little bit. Too much would cause him to revert back to his former, irrational nature, and she didn’t deserve that from him. He wanted this day to be restful, maybe even peaceful, although that couldn’t happen, because there were many reasons sitting on his desk as to why the day couldn’t possibly be peaceful.

When they finally arrived at the horse trader’s stables, the man came out to greet Madara. Madara introduced his wife, which was still a bit unsettling to think of, but it was beginning to grow on him. Kiyoko remained rather quiet and let Madara conduct business. He had told her along the way not to show interest in any of the horses in front of the trader. She understood, and she was doing this quite well. While the trader was presenting prospective horses to Madara, Kiyoko was usually right alongside him, just watching and keeping to herself.

When the trader was finished, he allowed Madara privacy to inspect any of the horses he wished. Kiyoko still stayed with him, not really doing much of anything. As Madara looked at the face of one horse, he decided that he was going to be a bit generous to his wife. So, he turned to her and put his hand lightly on her shoulder to get her attention. She wasn’t all that much shorter than he was. She looked up at him, and after looking down the row of stables for a moment, he looked back down at her.

"Did you see any that you liked?" Madara said in a low voice to keep from being heard. Kiyoko tried to contain a smile and looked away.

"I don’t know," she said, and Madara smiled knowingly.

"Show me," he murmured, and Kiyoko looked back up at him. She caught a glimpse of his smile, and knew what he meant, so she headed over to a stall with a white mare. Madara followed her. This mare was a bit tall for Kiyoko, but nonetheless, it was a nice looking horse. It looked strong, and it was reasonably priced, unlike many of the other horses, which were quite overpriced.

"Excuse me," came the voice of the trader. Madara looked up at him, and Kiyoko looked at Madara. "That mare is a bit on the wild side. I wouldn’t recommend her for riding. She can be a bit feisty."

Madara said nothing at first, and then looked at Kiyoko. She looked sure of herself. Madara turned back to the trader. He was probably telling the truth, but also trying to get more of a sale.

"My wife would like to try this horse," Madara said, totally ignoring the trader’s warning. His wife was a kunoichi. She could land on her feet easily if the mare bucked her off. Besides, unlike when the trader passed by the mare, it seemed to have taken a liking to Kiyoko, which wasn’t all that hard to believe, since Madara had been in that position once before.

The trainer made no further objections and saddled up the white mare for Kiyoko. Madara also expressed interest in trying a black mare, so the trainer also prepared that horse with a saddle. There was a pasture where they could ride the horses around and observe their behavior, and the trainer led them there.

The white mare was a bit tall for Kiyoko to get on. But she seemed to want to get on it herself, so she led the horse over to a stump and mounted that way. She seemed to be a bit familiar with horses, which was good. Madara had no trouble getting on his horse, and determined that the black mare’s nature was extremely calm. It wasn’t easily startled, and it followed directions quite promptly, so it had been trained well.

Kiyoko’s horse, on the other hand, was a bit more wild, just as the trader had said. It complied with orders nicely, but it liked to do things quickly. It was a bit feisty at some points, but Kiyoko was able to calm it down quite easily (much to the trader’s dismay). So, after being there for about three hours, Madara purchased the black mare for himself and the white mare for Kiyoko, as well as a couple of simple saddles to ride home with.

The ride back to Konoha was a bit more talkative, as Kiyoko was eager to speak about her new horse. She was trying to think of a good name for it, and she had even discovered some of the horse’s quirks already. The horse seemed to be comfortable with her, just as it was around other horses, and it was almost as if it had always known Kiyoko. Madara didn’t say a whole lot, but he did find a reason to smile again. He was glad to see Kiyoko so bubbly again. She hadn’t quite been herself lately, as he probably hadn’t either, but now, things seemed to be returning to normal. She looked happy, which was what he wanted for her. He didn’t necessarily attribute this happiness to him, but that didn’t matter. It didn’t need to be attributed to him. She could be happy whenever she wished to be, and he was content with not having anything to do with the cause of it. Observing her happiness was quite enough for him. He wasn’t good at being happy, so he didn’t want to spoil it all.

The two of them rode into town about an hour before dinner time, and made their way to Madara’s house, ignoring the stares of a few townspeople who were still in awe over the couple. They made it back to the privacy of Madara’s stables, and some servants immediately appeared to take care of their horses.

Madara dismounted first, and a servant took his horse. Kiyoko rode up behind him and stopped, preparing herself to dismount. Madara shook his head. Her horse was quite tall. To save her some of the dismount distance, he gingerly put his hands at her sides and lowered her to the ground.

The moment he did that though, he hadn’t expected electricity to shoot through him. His heart raced, and suddenly, he felt something inside him again. He felt like he was burning. The feeling took him so quickly that he didn’t have time to anticipate it, or put up a defense. He hadn’t touched her like that since he carried her down the mountain in Shimogakure. It was enough to make his breath hitch in his throat, but he could barely contain himself.

Kiyoko turned around to face him, and she thanked him quietly, but his heart was pounding so loudly that he couldn’t concentrate. Her voice, her eyes, her skin; everything about her right then was driving him crazy. His mind was going berserk.

She looked up at him, and she only broke her gaze when her cheeks started to flush. She was so close to him right now. He could have kissed her right then and there, but he didn’t. His body was telling him all the things he could do after he kissed her, and his mind was telling him to wait. They were still outside, and they still needed to have dinner.

His hand brushed hers, and more electricity shot through him. This was quickly becoming unbearable. Her hand responded tenderly, and their fingers intertwined loosely, softly shifting around. Her skin was intoxicating to him. She was so close to him. He could feel the heat coming off her body. She looked ready to bear a child. She looked comfortable, and the way she looked into his eyes was almost enough to make him lose all control of himself. She was ready now. He could feel it.

But he had to let her go. He couldn’t do anything outside. She needed to cook dinner. So, he let her go. He let his hand slip from hers, and put a little bit of distance between her and himself. He tried to go to his office, but he couldn’t work. His mind was swimming. He cleaned up his desk, and then, he couldn’t contain himself in his room, so he walked around his home until dinner was ready.

He did his best not to stare at her during dinner, but sometimes he couldn’t help but take a glance. She was so beautiful. He could barely stand it. And every time she looked up at him, her eyes pierced his soul, and he knew she was ready. She must have caught on a bit as to what he was thinking, because she could barely get herself to look at him without blushing.

After dinner, she went to her room, presumably to change for bed. Madara went to his room too, but he could only sit there. He sat there for about twenty minutes, and then he couldn’t sit there any longer, so he started walking around his home again. He walked around it once in ten minutes, and that did nothing to help the urges in his chest at all. If anything, that only heightened them.

He made it back to the hallway where his room was, and it was about the time Kiyoko would come to say good night to him. As he was about to pass her door, she opened it and met him, wearing a lightweight, white bed yukata. He really couldn’t stand it. She looked so ready. She even looked at him like she was ready, like she knew what was going to happen. How she knew, he wasn’t so sure, but perhaps he did an awful job of hiding what he was feeling. He was absolutely burning up.

He didn’t know what to say, so he kissed her, seeing there was no reason to hold back any longer. They parted for a second, and then he kissed her again. And this time, he took her to his room, closing the door behind him, and he didn’t stop.


	25. Chapter 25

Kiyoko shifted. Her futon was comfortable, and warm. Her bed yukata was soft against her legs. She didn’t want to move. But she probably needed to.

She took in a deep breath and stretched out her entire body, lifting her arms out from under the covers and up above her head. Then, she relaxed and slowly opened her eyes.

It was just starting to get light out. She closed her eyes again and tucked her arms back under the blankets. She liked it there.

Suddenly, her eyes shot open again. She wasn’t in her room. This wasn’t her bed. She rubbed her eyes, trying to wake herself up more. She looked about the room. She was all by herself, and in Madara’s room. She was in Madara’s bed.

"Oh, no," she whispered to herself, and she sprang from the futon, hastily folding it up before running out of his room. If he was already up, she was up late, and she needed to make breakfast for him. But as she was running, pain shot through her body, and she winced. She stopped to collect herself again, before continuing at a quickly paced walk toward the kitchen.

When she got there, she saw the maids already cleaning up from breakfast. Had she totally missed it? She couldn’t believe herself for sleeping in like that.

She continued down the hall a few strides to the dining room, and was startled to see Madara, who had just stood up from the table. They stared at each other in shock for a moment, and then Madara cleared his throat.

"I have some work to do away from home today," he said in his usual voice. "So, I needed to wake up earlier than normal. I didn’t want to wake you, so don’t worry."

Kiyoko nodded in understanding, although she still felt a bit bad that he hadn’t woken her up. She wouldn’t have minded.

Madara began to make his way toward her to leave.

"Do you need me to make you something to take for lunch?" Kiyoko asked, her voice a bit softer than normal. She was still trying to wake up some. Madara stopped right as he was passing beside her, and looked at her.

"Don’t worry about it," he said, in that voice that was so deep. She loved his voice. "I have to leave here about now." Kiyoko nodded, and Madara hovered there for a moment, just looking into her eyes. It made her heart beat so quickly when he looked at her like that. She was almost sure he was going to kiss her.

But he didn’t. He hesitated for a moment, and then he took in a breath.

"I’ll be back this evening," he said, before turning to head down the hallway. Kiyoko followed him to the front door and watched him leave.

Kiyoko closed the door and went back to the kitchen. She asked for a bowl of steamed rice and some tea to be brought to her room. She wasn’t all that hungry.

She quickly went to Madara’s room and folded his futon a bit more neatly than she had before. His room smelled like him. She couldn’t really place what he smelled like, but he smelled like Madara.

When she was finished tidying up, she went to her room to change into house clothes. A servant brought her food, and then, Kiyoko ate quietly. She really didn’t feel like leaving her room, so when she was finished eating, she put the tray outside her door and then sat back down in the middle of the room, surrounded by nothing but silence.

She sighed. She was still a bit shaken up since last night. She didn’t know it was going to hurt. She hadn’t expected that. Nobody had ever told her that it would hurt. She was a little bit nervous going into it all, but she trusted Madara, so she thought things would be alright. But it had really hurt. She was still sore, and she couldn’t run because of it. Perhaps she had been too tense.

She had tried not to cry. She didn’t want him to see that she was crying, so she had tried to turn her face to the side. It was hard to contain herself. She kept her mouth closed so the whimpers wouldn’t escape her lips, but she couldn’t keep them from vibrating in her throat. It wasn’t that Madara had done anything wrong. She just didn’t know what to expect. Surely, she had expected it to hurt maybe a little bit, but not this much. But perhaps it was just a first time thing.

Still, she didn’t want to do it again until the pain had subsided, and she didn’t want to tell him that she was in pain either. She didn’t want him to feel bad about himself. He had finally begun to open up to her again, and she didn’t want to jeopardize that. But that morning, he looked a bit more distant than he had been the day before. Perhaps he had a lot on his mind. She didn’t know for sure.

She was hoping that he would kiss her, just for reassurance. But he didn’t. She hoped he didn’t know that it had hurt her. She didn’t mean to be hurt by it. It just happened. She didn’t know what to expect. It probably would have been nicer had it not hurt so much. He was gentle with her, and she had felt a bit nervous, but she also felt safe with him. She still did, of course, but now she just had to deal with being sore in a place she wasn’t used to being sore in.

It had all really been a bit confusing to her though. She knew what sex was, and she was aware of what happened, but it all just seemed to happen one moment, and the next moment, it was over. In the moment, she probably would have appreciated it more if Madara had merely held her. She didn’t mind being kissed either. She could dream about that. He was quite good looking, if she didn’t say so herself, and he could kiss her like there was no tomorrow, although Kiyoko didn’t have anyone to compare him to on that. And it was no matter that his hair got everywhere either, because so did hers. She would have enjoyed that kind of companionship just as much, if not more than, the act of sexual intercourse. In fact, she would have been content if he had only kissed her and held her, and had not gone a step further. He really seemed to want to, though, and she was quite alright with that at the time. She just didn’t know it was going to hurt then.

But now, she felt a bit lonely. He had left so abruptly, and she kind of wished he could have stayed for a bit longer, even though she felt quite sore still. She wanted to be with him even more now. But every time she wanted to be with him, it seemed he would distance himself and bury himself in work. He had taken the day off though, so he probably missed a lot during that period. Still, Kiyoko found herself longing for him to come back, even though he had just left an hour ago.

* * *

It wasn’t quite light out when Madara left his home. The streets of Konoha were virtually empty, and it was extremely quiet. He wanted to look at a few things in Konoha before anyone was up yet, that way he wouldn’t look suspicious. His research had shown him a lot over the past few weeks, and he had decided he would go somewhere specific today.

After about ten minutes of walking about Konoha, he finally headed in the direction of Naka Shrine, an Uchiha-owned shrine. It was a very beautiful shrine, and it happened to be the shrine that he and Kiyoko were married in. But that wasn’t why he was going there.

When he walked into the shrine, he went immediately to the main hall, and to the seventh tatami mat on the right. He lifted it up, and opened the concealed door.

This was the Uchiha’s well kept secret: the secret meeting place under the Naka Shrine. Madara knew about it, but never really had a reason to go there until now. The Uchiha clansmen had taken to meeting in Madara’s house, simply because it was more convenient, and they had no real reason to meet in secret most of the time anyway, so it was left untouched for the most part.

But today was different. Madara had a reason to come there. He lowered himself into the hidden chamber below the shrine, and lit a lantern so that he could see.

There, sitting at the end of the small chamber, was a stone monument. Madara knew of its existence, but never really had way to fully read it. It required the Rinnegan to read it entirely, but he figured that he could try to read parts of it with his  _ Mangekyō Sharingan _ . It wouldn’t be easy, but it was better than trying to read it with just a simple  _ Sharingan _ .

The stone monument was a secret even to much of the clan. Only a few of the clansmen knew of the secret chamber, much less the tablet itself. Madara didn’t know what it said though. Not many living members of the Uchiha clan did. But Madara wanted to try to read it. He was becoming more and more discontented with how things were going in Konoha. Peace seemed to be further away than it had ever been.

He sighed at the thought of peace. What had once seemed to be just a distant goal now seemed to be entirely unobtainable. He had falsely convinced himself that he had found it the night before. He had believed the nonsense that Hashirama had fed to him so long ago, for some odd reason. He thought that maybe, just this once, Hashirama would be right about something. But even that was awry. It wasn’t fulfilling to him at all, he found. It might have been enjoyable given that the circumstances allowed for it, but it definitely wasn’t. He hadn’t bargained to see Kiyoko like that.

She had seemed entirely ready for it. She even looked ready. She acted ready. There was nothing that Madara could see that told him she wasn’t ready. So, he went for it. He stopped holding back. He let himself go. He let his body take over. But he hadn’t expected to hurt her. He hadn’t expected that he’d see her cry. She tried to hide it, but he saw it. He thought that she was ready for him, and if not him, at least the act of intercourse. But at that moment, she looked afraid. He didn’t know what to do at all. He felt awful. He couldn’t have possibly enjoyed anything after seeing her cry like that. She tried to conceal it, but he still saw it, and it hit him like a wave. He couldn’t go on from that point. He could barely even bring himself to kiss her. He was afraid he’d hurt her even more deeply than he realized. What if she really wasn’t ready? What if he was wrong?

It bothered him so much, he could barely sleep, even after she fell asleep beside him. He finally got a couple of hours of sleep, but only to wake up an hour before sunrise: much earlier than he normally woke up. She had still been asleep, and she looked so comfortable that he didn’t want to bother her. He didn’t even want to touch her, for fear he might do something to hurt her again. If he was in control of himself, he wouldn’t do anything to hurt her ever again.

So, he got out of bed and quietly leafed through his papers for a few minutes. He decided that he was going to go to the Naka Shrine. He wanted to see the truth. He wanted to see if peace could truly be achieved. He had decided to give up on trying to find peace through his marriage. Every time he tried to look, he did something to scare Kiyoko off. And he didn’t want to hurt her anymore. He had never found peace in his marriage, even after Hashirama said he would, and if he couldn’t find it there, perhaps he needed to look somewhere else.

He tried to read the tablet. There appeared to be some notes of historical significance, but he couldn’t read much of it. This was going to take a while. So, he pulled out his research and began leafing through it again. He had brought many of his papers with him, just to draw comparisons. He tried to read it again, but to no avail. The tablet would need to be deciphered. He stayed there for hours upon hours, trying to decipher just the very first sentence. That was enough to exhaust him even more, and he was already tired to begin with. But he had to do it. Things in Konoha needed to change, and Madara seemed to be the only one that could see that. If the Hokage wouldn’t even acknowledge it, it was time for Madara to take things into his own hands, and he would do that no matter how long it took.

Hashirama had always had a twisted view of peace. He thought it was something that would just happen given that villages had the freedom to choose their own paths. But Madara had always been skeptical of that outlook. It didn’t appear to be working. And the way things were going, there wouldn’t be peace for much longer. The Uchiha would soon be pushed out of the picture altogether if Madara didn’t do something. Their lives as they knew it were about to change, and Madara couldn’t allow that to happen. He couldn’t let there be any window of opportunity for disaster to come. True peace was a world without pain, and Madara knew that.

He just couldn’t afford to hurt Kiyoko anymore. He didn’t want anything to hurt her: not like what happened to Izuna. He would never let anything like that happen again. Izuna hadn’t deserved that, and Kiyoko didn’t deserve to be hurt anymore either. They deserved a world without pain. They deserved peace, even though he was wondering if it really existed now. Kiyoko deserved the best that Madara could give her. So, he resolved that he would protect her from anything that was going to hurt her, even if that meant from himself.


	26. Chapter 26

As time passed, Kiyoko knew that Madara was burying himself in his work again. She began to see less and less of him as time went on, and when she did see him, he didn’t look too good. He looked much more tired than she remembered, and dark circles were forming under his eyes. She knew he was getting very little sleep, if any. Often nights, if she listened hard enough, she could hear him from her own room, still leafing through papers late at night, only because of her heightened sense of hearing.

She continually tried to wake up early enough to cook him breakfast, but it seemed that every day he would wake up even earlier in order to leave and do his work. Kiyoko didn’t know where he was going or what he was doing, but he always came back totally exhausted, and only to work more in his office. After about a week, Madara stopped eating breakfast altogether. Instead of going to the dining room, he just left immediately, and very early in the morning.

This worried Kiyoko a lot. But it didn’t stop there. After about another week, he stopped eating dinner as well. Kiyoko knew that he wasn’t sleeping either, so he needed some form of sustenance. So, she began to make lunch for him to take with him. She would make every piece of his meal from scratch, put it in a little disposable box, and then neatly wrap up the box in a simple black _furoshiki_ and place it right by his sandals at the front door, that way he wouldn’t have a choice but to take it along when he left. After that, she would say a short good night to him, and then she would go to sleep.

Every morning, she always checked to make sure that he had taken his lunch with him, and every morning, she noted that he had, which gave her a reason to smile. She still worried about him, but she could worry a little bit less knowing that he had something to eat while he worked. He never said anything about it to her, which she didn’t expect him to. Madara was a very quiet man, and she had noted quite early on that he wasn’t very good with "thank you’s," or anything else for that matter. But, at the end of every day, in the evening, Kiyoko would always find the same black  _ furoshiki _ folded up rather clumsily and sitting on the counter next to a few spice jars. She knew he put it there, simply because she and the maids knew that the cloth had certain, directional folding lines to keep it from wrinkling, and she found that it was always folded in the opposite direction on one of the lines.

While Madara was away, Kiyoko would occupy herself during the day by tidying up the house. On the first day she did this, she went into his room to see if it needed any cleaning. She had been in there on multiple occasions, but it never ceased to amaze her how much it smelled like him. She loved his scent, and when he wasn’t home, that was the closest thing to his presence that she could get.

As she was inspecting his room to see what needed cleaning, she saw his rather disorganized desk, and decided that maybe she could start there. As she was about to collect some of his papers that were scattered about, she noticed that one was filled with his handwriting. They appeared to be notes. She hadn’t come in the room to read his papers and invade his privacy, but she was right there, and she was only trying to organize them. She didn’t touch the paper though. He had written things about Konoha: things about the Senju and the Uchiha, things about power, and then more about peace. She saw Hashirama’s name a couple of times after she just began to skim the paper, rather than read it word for word. Was this what he was working on?

That paper reminded her of one thing, and that was when she had witnessed Madara attack those Iwagakure ninja a week before Hashirama and Mito’s wedding. She stopped reading the paper. Madara had his own views on other countries, but his notes weren’t outlining Iwagakure; they were outlining Konoha. His writing was littered with the word "peace," and Kiyoko couldn’t help but wonder what he was thinking. Kiyoko knew that Konoha’s relations with Iwagakure had halted at some point, simply because goods from Iwa had just stopped coming to Konoha. It wasn’t exactly news to Konoha now, but at the time, it was a bit shocking.

Kiyoko wasn’t sure she agreed with Madara on peace. She was his wife, and she was a woman, so she wasn’t involved in politics officially. But from his notes, it appeared that he believed peace was something that was to be created by a single power, which was supposed to be Konoha. Kiyoko wasn’t sure. His notes seemed to tackle domestic issues more than it did foreign issues, and one of the most prevalent issues was the Uchiha versus the Senju. Hashirama’s name appeared many times, and all around his name, "peace" and "power."

Kiyoko didn’t think those two words belonged in the same sentence. She had always found in life that peace could be found amidst chaos, regardless of the severity. An individual’s power never had any bearing on the amount of peace they experienced: it was a matter of perspective and state of mind.

But she had only read part of one page of his notes. She had no idea what he really believed based on that. All she had now was an idea of what he was working toward, which was peace. If he was working toward creating peace in the world, she couldn’t argue with that. The time at Iwagakure was not enough to adequately judge Madara’s views, and neither was a single piece of paper.

So, Kiyoko left Madara’s room untouched. She had already invaded on his privacy a little bit by being in there without his permission, and she didn’t want to meddle in things that weren’t her business. She knew he wouldn’t appreciate it if he found that she had been snooping around his office, just as anybody else wouldn’t appreciate it. She decided that she wouldn’t clean Madara’s room from then on. It wasn’t in need of cleaning anyway, so she spent her days for the next week cleaning the rest of his home.

After about a solid week and a half of cleaning, she had gotten to every crevice of his home and made things spotless. She was quite proud of herself, and in doing so, she had given many of the servants a much needed break from work. Still, some of them insisted on helping her, and she finally allowed them to, seeing that Madara’s house was a bit large for one person to tackle alone.

She finished at about five o’clock in the afternoon, and then cleaned herself up so that she could prepare some dinner for herself. After that, she went to the courtyard to tend to Madara’s koi. The rest of the garden had mostly died off, simply because fall was becoming harsher. After she fed the koi, she just watched them for a while, and then headed back inside after it got too dark to see them.

It was getting late, and Madara would be back soon. Sure enough, just as that thought had crossed her mind, she heard his footsteps in the hallway head straight into his room. After she heard his door slide shut, she waited a few moments, and then decided to go make his lunch for the next day. That took about an hour, and when she had finished, she wrapped it in the black  _ furoshiki _ and placed it right next to his sandals by the front door.

She was quite tired after that, so she decided that she would change into her bed yukata, say good night to Madara, and then head off to bed. She went back to her room and changed, and then she went across the hall to Madara’s room and knocked. There was no answer, and Kiyoko waited for a few moments. She couldn’t hear anything, but she knew he was in there, so she gathered up her courage and knocked again. Still, there was no answer. Normally, he was quite good about answering his door, or at least telling her to come in. But this time, she heard nothing. Kiyoko closed her eyes tightly, and slowly slid his door open.

There he was, hunched over his desk, sound asleep. Kiyoko sighed in relief. He had finally crashed. She quietly made her way over to him and knelt beside him, tenderly brushing some of the hair out of his face. He was in a deep sleep, but he seemed so tense. His eyebrows were slightly furrowed, almost as if he was uncomfortable. Kiyoko thought for a moment, and then, as quietly as she could so as not to wake him, she stood. She positioned herself over him and pressed her thumbs into his shoulder muscles, dragging them along slowly to release some of the tension. She massaged his neck muscles too, and when she was finished, she knelt beside him for a moment, just to look at his face. His expression had visibly softened, and Kiyoko smiled sadly.

" _ Oyasumi-nasai _ , Madara," she whispered almost inaudibly, kissing him softly on the cheek. She didn’t care if he never knew what she did for him. She was falling in love with him, and she didn’t need to be repaid for that.


	27. Chapter 27

The following week, Kiyoko received a letter from Kuro in the late morning. He apologized for the late response, and proceeded to tell her how he and Kashikoi had been doing.

Kashikoi had begun courting a woman from a clan known as the Inuzuka. The clan was rather small, but its members were somewhat like the Ookami in that they shared a canine-style jutsu. The woman Kashi was courting seemed to be quite friendly, and Kashi spent a whole lot of time with her. Kuro then asked Kiyoko how she and Madara had been doing lately.

Kiyoko couldn’t help but smile whenever she read letters from her brothers. She was glad to hear that Kashikoi had found a woman that he might soon marry, but she was a bit skeptical that Kuro wasn’t also looking at women himself. He didn’t say anything about that in his letter, but it was the first thing she tackled in her reply. Kuro had always been a bit more quiet and less outgoing than Kashikoi was, but he was definitely attractive. She was sure that he would be able to find a woman without any trouble.

As soon as she finished the letter, she sealed it up and asked a servant to go to town and put it in the mail. Then, she went back to her room.

Just as she got back to her room, she began to feel a bit nauseous. At first, she just thought it was a simple bout of nausea and nothing more, just like she got sometimes when she was dizzy, or her vision went blurry. But it wasn’t, and she rushed out through the door to the courtyard and threw up in the grass.

She must have made a bit of commotion, for a maid came out right away to help her. This was quite embarrassing for Kiyoko. She hadn’t been feeling too good as of lately, but she hadn’t really started feeling sick until today. It was probably what she got for trying to do all that housework by herself.

The maid was kind and led Kiyoko back to her room, and laid her down in her futon.

"How have you been feeling lately?" she asked, placing a bucket by her head. Kiyoko sighed.

"I’ve been tired," Kiyoko said quietly. "Kind of stressed. This isn’t the first time I’ve gotten sick from stress. It happens sometimes." The maid nodded.

"You’ve probably got a virus of some sort," the maid said, and Kiyoko nodded weakly. "I will stay with you, if that’s alright." Kiyoko muttered a "yeah," and then leaned over the bucket and retched again. The maid was quick to hold back her hair, and Kiyoko couldn’t help but feel extremely embarrassed, on top of feeling extremely sick. She was appreciative for the help, though, and she was glad that the maid decided to stay. She wasn’t all too good at taking care of herself when she was sick. And she hated the feeling of vomiting. It felt awful.

Part of her was glad that Madara wasn’t there to see her like this, but at the same time, she wished that he was there to comfort her. He had his own work to do, though, and the last thing Kiyoko wanted was for him to be worried about her. She would be alright soon.

As soon as she had finished, the maid took the bucket from the room, and another maid came in with a new bucket. Kiyoko would have rolled her eyes if it wouldn’t have made her dizzy. She was almost certain that the entire household knew that she was sick now. But, she didn’t feel good enough to let it bother her, and the maid told her to get some rest, so she closed her eyes and drifted off.

* * *

Madara was walking back to his house. It was dark by now, and it had rained virtually all day, so it was very wet out. He had deciphered just over half of the tablet. There were still chunks of the translation missing that he simply couldn’t figure out, but he was starting to piece together its meaning. He still had a little bit left to work on.

He had decided to come home a little bit early today, though. It was getting to the point where he just couldn’t work because he was so tired. He didn’t know why he didn’t sleep. A lot of times, he was just too anxious to sleep. Other times, he was onto something, and he didn’t want to lose his train of thought. But he was realizing that he needed rest to function, even if it was just a little bit.

Madara stepped inside and slipped his sandals off. He pulled the  _ furoshiki _ out of his pocket that Kiyoko had used to wrap his lunch, and he made his way to the kitchen. As he put the cloth on the counter, he stopped and thought. He had passed out on his desk a few nights ago, almost an hour after he got home that night. Maybe he needed to start eating more on top of sleeping more. He couldn’t afford to slow down his work pace, but he could at least treat himself a little bit better.

He called for a servant, and asked them to get Kiyoko so that she could make some dinner for the two of them. He realized it was a bit late for dinner, but he really enjoyed her cooking, and he knew she wouldn’t mind. But the servant hesitated. Just as she was about to open her mouth, one of the older servants appeared.

"I’m sorry, Madara-sama," the servant said calmly. "But Kiyoko-sama is ill and won’t be able to cook tonight. I can ask the servants in charge of cooking to make something for you."

"What?" Madara asked, almost dumbfounded. "She’s ill?"

"Yes," the servant said, nodding her head. "She has a fever. Some sort of virus. Nothing to be worried about. It should pass given a few days."

"How is she?" Madara persisted. He wasn’t even hungry anymore.

"She’s resting right now," the servant explained. "She’s been asleep since late this morning. There’s a servant watching over her right now in my stead."

Madara didn’t know how to respond. He didn’t know what to do.

"I will keep you up to date on how she is doing," the servant continued after Madara didn’t say anything. "Would you like me to relay your dinner request to the servants?"

"No," Madara said after a pause. "That won’t be necessary. I’ve decided to go to bed." Both the servants nodded and bowed, and Madara walked down the hallway toward his room. He had lost his appetite, as if he really had one to begin with. He worried for his wife, even though his servants were good at taking care of people. But he didn’t know what to do.

As he passed her door, he got the urge to check on her. But something inside wouldn’t let him. He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t afford to hurt her. Not like he had before. As long as he had kept his distance, things had been going well. He didn’t want to take a chance and mess things up anymore. He couldn’t afford to mess things up. Kiyoko didn’t deserve that from him.

So, he went to his room and closed the door behind himself. His work was almost finished. If he could just read the tablet, maybe he could create peace. Maybe he would be able to get Hashirama to see the truth. He would finally be able to give Kiyoko what she deserved: a world without pain.


	28. Chapter 28

The servant had stuck to her word when she said that she would keep Madara up to date on how Kiyoko was doing. And so far, Kiyoko’s condition hadn’t been improving. The servant told Madara not to worry, and that this sort of thing happened to everyone at one point or another in their life. So, he tried not to worry. He still did, though. It hung over him like a cloud, constantly troubling him.

He didn’t get a whole lot of sleep that first night, even though he aimed to. He just couldn’t sleep. He was too anxious. There was too much on his mind: Konoha, the clan, Hashirama, Kiyoko, and now sleep deprivation. It was all so frustrating to him. He just had no clue how to take it all.

It only seemed to get worse for him though, as he realized the next morning that he would not be getting a lunch from Kiyoko. The servants had presumably made one for him, but he knew it wouldn’t be the same. Even as he ate it while trying to decipher the tablet, it just made him think of how much he liked her cooking. He couldn’t help but worry about Kiyoko. It always seemed to be looming there, in the back of his mind. But there was nothing he could do, which made him feel even more troubled.

He went for days like this, and soon, he stopped eating his lunches entirely. He just told the servants to stop making his lunches. He couldn’t stand it. He wasn’t sure why, but he just couldn’t make himself eat. Kiyoko still wasn’t getting much better, and it had been a couple of days. The servant had told him that morning that she couldn’t manage to keep anything down yet. He just didn’t know what to do with himself upon hearing that.

Things didn’t get any better for him either. His progress on the tablet wasn’t going as quickly as he would have liked. He was having trouble working now. He was so close though. He was almost done, but he couldn’t figure out a few big chunks of the reading for the life of him. His  _ Mangekyō Sharingan  _ just wasn’t enough to decipher all of it. But he didn’t want to miss anything. This was important. It was important for Konoha, and it was important for Kiyoko. He had to keep trying.

He tried for days, rigorously doing research during the times he couldn’t be at the shrine. He filled dozens of papers with his deciphering notes. He drew as many connections as he could to the symbols on the tablet. He finally wised up and drew an exact copy of the damned thing so he could work on it at his home. He was giving this all he had. It needed to be done, for her sake, and for the rest of the world. He had to grasp the truth.

He spent almost four whole days doing more work just from his office. Everything he needed was there. Papers were everywhere. They covered his desk, and the floor all around it. Some of them were even on the wall. He worked constantly. He never stopped, except to ponder something, which would only take him a few seconds. He ran out of paper at one point, so he began to write on the back of a scroll that he had. It wasn’t all that important of a scroll, but it was what he needed: somewhere to write.

At the end of the fourth day, there was a knock at his door. He was so engrossed in his work, he almost didn’t hear it, but the knock came again. It was the servant. He hadn’t heard from her for four whole days.

"What is it?" he asked, finishing what he was writing. The servant slid his door open just enough to speak to him.

"Your wife would like to see you before she falls asleep," she said, and Madara froze. He turned around and looked at the servant, who bowed toward him. He felt nervous. But he made himself stand up from his desk. The servant slid open his door the rest of the way so that he could exit, and he walked down the hallway a few strides before stopping at Kiyoko’s door. He turned to the servant, who was following him.

"How is she?" he asked quietly. He wanted to know. He wanted to know that she was okay. He didn’t know if he could stand it if she wasn’t.

"She started improving yesterday," the servant said. "She’s doing much better today. She’s been able to eat a little bit. But she’s still a bit weak." Madara mentally sighed in relief, but his heart was still pounding a bit.

He took a moment to collect himself, and then, he opened the door to Kiyoko’s room. She was laying in her futon, with only her head visible and her eyes closed. That was enough for Madara to see how tired she looked. She didn’t look much better than he did, minus his dark circles. Much of her face had lost its vibrant color, and her hair didn’t seem to shine as brightly as it used to. The sight of her only made him worry more.

The servant closed the door behind him, and he knelt down beside her. Right as he did, she opened her eyes; those eyes that could pierce his soul in one gaze. He couldn’t deny that. He couldn’t help but adore those eyes. And he couldn’t help but worry for her, this woman that meant so much to him that he couldn’t verbalize a single syllable to her. He didn’t even understand himself. He didn’t know how she could have possibly put up with him for this long. He didn’t understand what she saw. He couldn’t help but wonder what went through her mind, what kept her going.

"The servants told me that you haven’t been eating," she said weakly, but giving him a strong look with her eyes.

Now he couldn’t help but wince. That look could have knocked any man dead.

"Uh..." he started, trying to come up with something to say. He really had no clue. He had been put on the spot again.

"I thought so," she sighed, closing her eyes. She looked so tired, but she had just enough energy to chastise him. He couldn’t believe it. She definitely had some of the Ookami spite left in her.

"I’ll be better soon," she said softly, opening her eyes again. "I can feel it." He half-expected her to pull out her Deva Path Rinnegan. He would have probably deserved it. But she was too weak. In her state, she probably shouldn’t.

"And then I’ll make your lunches again," she sighed. Madara was a bit thankful for that. He had missed her cooking.

"But until then," she said, closing her eyes again. " _ Please _ eat at least one meal a day. You need to. That way, I can worry a little bit less." Her voice got softer as she spoke, and soon, she had fallen asleep. Madara sighed. He hadn’t known that she worried about him like that.

" _ Wakarimashita _ ," he whispered, and he slowly reached out to just brush her face. Right as he got close, he stopped.

He didn’t understand. He didn’t know why he felt so conflicted like this. He didn’t know why this had to be so confusing for him. Never, in his entire life, had he ever faced something that seemed so impossible. He didn’t understand why, no matter what he did, these emotions that he tried to keep bottled up threatened to tear him apart. And he didn’t understand why any other man could stand to go through something as painful that: why any other man would willingly go through such pain that seemed to be never-ending.

He didn’t know what he was supposed to do half the time. He’d never known what to do: not ever. And now, he was sitting there with a woman in his life, and he didn’t even know how to give her what she deserved. He wasn’t even sure anymore exactly what it was that she deserved, but it had to be so much more than he could offer. He was never able to give enough to Izuna. He couldn’t save his brother from pain or hardship, or even death. He just couldn’t do it, no matter how much he cared for his brother. There was no way Madara could have saved him alone, and it was his fault for not realizing that sooner. And he couldn’t let the same fate befall his wife. He wouldn’t make that mistake again. Kiyoko wasn’t worthy of him, and neither was Izuna: not unless he could give them as much as he could offer. Not himself, but his plan for the world. He was nothing to them unless he had the power to give them peace. It was already too late for Izuna, but Madara hadn’t given up. Ever since Izuna died, Madara vowed that he’d give the world the peace it so desperately needed. And he would do that for Kiyoko, no matter what it took. She didn’t deserve him. She deserved a world of peace.


	29. Chapter 29

For a while, it was just darkness for Kiyoko. She slept for seemingly days on end. She wasn’t sure how long she had been sleeping until she started to regain consciousness enough for the maids to tell her. She couldn’t believe that she had been out of commission for nine days.

She still felt out of it, but after a while, she began gaining more and more consciousness. The maids still suggested that she rest until she was fully recovered, which Kiyoko had to agree with. She felt absolutely weak, and every time she tried to sit up, she felt dizzy: sometimes even queasy, which she didn’t like. She didn’t want to be reminded of throwing up.

As the days wore on, she could finally get herself to sit up. She could eat some things now, but she was restricted to sitting in her futon for the most part. She felt so overwhelmingly tired. She wished she could just get up and walk around, or even run around. She felt trapped in her room.

But worst, she worried for Madara. She remembered faintly when she had asked the maids how he was doing. They had told her that he wasn’t eating food anymore, and she decided that she had no choice but to talk some sense into him. She hadn’t planned on letting him see her like this, but she supposed it wasn’t the first time he had. He had carried her down a mountain before.

She really hoped that he listened to her. It turned out that he had, Kiyoko found out, after checking with a maid. Apparently, he was beginning to work from home more often nowadays. Kiyoko was glad. She hadn’t gotten to see a whole lot of him before she got sick, so maybe, once she got better, she would get to see him more often. She liked the sound of that, but something in the back of her mind told her that it wouldn’t turn out like she hoped it would. She wanted to be optimistic, though. She had a right to be.

After a couple more days, she could finally get herself to stand up while holding onto the wall. She was still a bit shaky, and being bedridden for almost a week and a half didn’t help. She got dizzy sometimes, but for the most part, she was returning back to normal. She just had to be careful, and take things easy.

As the days slowly got better for her, she started to do more walking around. At first, at least one maid was beside her at all times, just to help her. Soon, she graduated from that, and she was able to take care of herself more easily. She felt a bit queasy sometimes during the day, but she never felt like she was really going to vomit, so that was a huge improvement. Besides, feeling queasy wasn’t all that new to her: she felt queasy sometimes in place of being dizzy or having blurry vision. It was just something that she had always dealt with.

Once she felt that she was over the virus completely, she began to cook again. It had been about two weeks since she had first fallen ill, and Madara was probably feeling extremely deprived of her cooking. She knew he liked it. He didn’t say a whole lot, but she knew he really did like it, without him having to say a word. So, she decided to make him a good meal, and she wrapped it up for him, and gave it to him to eat in his room. She didn’t want to disturb him, since she knew he was so busy that he hadn’t been leaving his room lately. She let him go as uninterrupted as he needed to be. But she would make sure that he ate.

As good as things started out, Kiyoko still felt pretty weak during the day. The maids suggested that when she wasn’t cooking, she rested herself. She tried to take things easy, but she supposed that by cooking, she was already making things hard on herself. She didn’t want to sleep any more than she had to, though, so she decided to sit outside in the courtyard and watch the koi.

The koi were always interesting for Kiyoko to watch. They were beautiful, and whenever she sat by the pond, they always expected her to feed them, which she found to be quite amusing. Soon, she began to draw them, seeing that she had nothing else to do. She drew them swimming, jumping out of the water, and she drew them all huddled together.

A few more days passed, and one day, while Kiyoko was cooking for herself, a maid informed her that Madara was going to eat dinner as well. She was so delighted by this, she decided to make  _ inarizushi _ . But, just as she walked into the dining room and sat down across the table from him, she caught a glimpse of his face, and she froze.

He looked terrible. She could tell that he really hadn’t been sleeping at all. The dark circles around his eyes looked even darker than she remembered. He looked so exhausted, Kiyoko began to wonder which of them had really been sick this whole time. She made herself look away so he wouldn’t catch her staring, but she looked at a servant in the kitchen who was about to bring their food out. The servant nodded, and put a bit more food on Madara’s plate before coming out of the kitchen and serving them. Madara didn’t appear to notice and proceeded to eat all of it without question, and Kiyoko was thankful.

He didn’t say a word the entire time, and barely looked across the table at her, but Kiyoko understood. She wished there was something she could do. He just looked awful. He looked weaker than she did. She didn’t really know what to do. But, perhaps the fact that he was now eating dinner would help. Two meals a day was certainly better than one.

Over time, he did start to look better. Color seemed to show on his face a bit more. But he still didn’t do a whole lot of speaking, if at all. Kiyoko let it go, though. He had so much to do, and it appeared that his health was improving, so she didn’t want to rush him. She would do anything to help him along, even if she never got any thanks.

But a different day came along. It was a bit cold that day, but not too cold for Kiyoko to watch the koi. The winters in Konoha were quite mild, and it didn’t bother the koi, so she continued to sit outside and draw them in any position she could think of . She drew one of the koi like it was dancing, which made her smile, and then, after lunch, she saw two koi swimming beside each other, so she decided to draw them together. Just as she finished it, and was admiring it, she shivered. The smile disappeared from her face.

She didn’t know why, but all of a sudden, she felt more lonely than she had ever felt in her entire life, and all because she was looking at a simple drawing of two koi swimming next to each other. She couldn’t stop her heart from falling through her hands, and she couldn’t stop it from hitting the ground. She couldn’t catch it before it did. But, she wouldn’t let herself cry, no matter how hard it was to stop the tears.

Why did she feel like this? It wasn’t right for her to feel like this. She couldn’t do that. It wasn’t fair to anybody else for her to fall apart. She couldn’t just give up now. He didn’t deserve that. He couldn’t help that he had work to do. She couldn’t do this now. She had to stay strong, just like she had always been.

He loved her. She knew that had to be true. He couldn’t see her much anymore, but she knew he wanted to. She knew that he missed her just as much as she missed him. She knew that he wanted to see her, just like she did. He’d always been quiet, so she couldn’t expect him to say these sort of things to her. She just had to know them. She had to know them without him telling her. That was how it had always been for her.

But why was it failing her now? Why did she feel like she was falling apart? Why couldn’t she be strong enough on her own? Why was she so weak? She could always stand alone before. It was never a problem. So, why did it have to hurt so much now? She had always been surrounded by all the things he had given to her, all the luxuries that he offered to her. She had always been content with that, because somehow, she knew that he really cared for her. But if that was so, why did she feel so alone, and all so suddenly? Why couldn’t she just believe what she had always believed?

She was in the same house as he was. She was right across the hall from him. She had no right to feel lonely. And yet, she did. She couldn’t lie to herself anymore. But she had to. She couldn’t just fall apart like this. She couldn’t do this to him. She had to be strong. She knew he loved her.

But she was running out of excuses to make. She didn’t know to sustain herself anymore. She had been content before, but now her world seemed to turn upside down. This wasn’t how she wanted to feel. This wasn’t at all what she had envisioned for herself. And yet, this was what she had.

But she couldn’t suddenly demand more out of him. That wasn’t fair. She couldn’t expect him to change who he was. She needed to be strong for him. She had to be stronger than she ever had been. She had to be faithful and loving. That was all that mattered. No matter what happened, she had to be strong. She had to take it. She had to get through it for him. And she had to do it without complaint. Without faltering. Without tears. Without reimbursement.

She closed her notebook and stood from the koi pond, and then she walked back into her room. She dropped the notebook by her rolled up futon and then left her room without a second look. It was time for her to cook dinner.

* * *

Kiyoko made a nice dinner, and as soon as she was finished, she headed out to the dining room. Madara came in after her. He was looking better as of lately. He didn’t say anything when he sat down, but he did look at her. It made her heart jump a little bit. He really was getting better, and she was almost sure that her cooking had something to do with it.

The servants brought their food in, and they ate in silence. Kiyoko had gotten used to that. It was actually quite nice to eat in silence. She had always grown up with conversation at the dinner table, but there was nothing wrong with a bit of peace and quiet.

"Kiyoko," said Madara, suddenly. She almost jumped. She hadn’t expected him to say anything at all. She was used to him not saying a word, so much, in fact, that she had almost forgotten what his voice sounded like. It was deep, so deep that she could get lost in it.

"Yes?" she said, quickly looking up at him from her food. She almost forgot to even respond. She had to scold herself for that one. Really, it was almost like she had entirely forgotten how to converse.

"I need to speak with you in my office," he said. "After dinner." Kiyoko’s heart almost jumped out of her chest. She tried to read his facial expression, but she couldn’t. What was he thinking? What did he want to talk to her about? This was the first time she had gotten to have a real conversation with him in ages. She couldn’t help but smile.

"Yes, sir," she responded. Madara didn’t smile in return, but he didn’t smile that often. She was so excited. She was almost done with her food. She could finish that quickly, and then, all she’d have to do was hurry back to her room and change for bed, and she’d be ready to talk to him.

As soon as she was done, she left the dining room before him and hurried back to her room. She changed into her bed yukata, since it was close to the time she went to sleep anyway, and then, she slid her door open and peeked out.

Madara was standing by the door to his room waiting for her, and he looked over at her when she came out of her room. Kiyoko wasted no time and walked into his room, and he followed, closing the door behind them. Kiyoko stopped in the middle of his room, and turned around to face him. He wasn’t sitting down, so she decided not to sit down either.

Madara took in a breath. He was a bit taller than she was. He looked so much better than he had been. He even looked like he might have been training.

He cleared his throat, and Kiyoko pushed her thoughts out of the way for the moment. Then, he finally opened his mouth to speak.

"As you may or may not know," he began. "I have been looking for ways to create peace in Konoha, specifically between the Senju and Uchiha clans." Kiyoko hadn’t expected him to talk about this. She knew a bit about what he had been doing, but she didn’t think that he’d ever talk to her about such things.

"However," he continued. "As my work progressed, I began to realize the truth. And naturally, I relayed my findings to my clan, and to the Hokage." Kiyoko wasn’t sure where he was going with this. It didn’t sound like something that he would tell her at all. And it wasn’t at all what she expected him to talk about.

"Much to my shock," he went on, looking slightly frustrated. "Many of the Uchiha clan members have turned their backs on me, and some members have even chosen to abandon the Uchiha name entirely. They refuse to understand what’s happening in Konoha." Kiyoko didn’t understand at all. She didn’t know what he was trying to say. And why would the Uchiha turn their backs on their clan leader? It didn’t make any sense.

"Now, it seems I am the only one who knows the true path to peace," he said, looking back at her. "And in order to successfully bring peace to Konoha, that path requires that I leave the clan to continue my work. So, I’m leaving. Tonight."


	30. Chapter 30

Kiyoko looked up at him in shock, trying to take it all in at once.

"What?" she asked, confused. She didn’t understand what he meant. Madara looked at her with the same unchanging expression he always tried to use when his emotions were going berserk.

"I'm leaving," he repeated. "Tonight." Kiyoko couldn't wipe the hurt look off her face. She knew he wasn’t leaving temporarily.

"I knew it was coming," she said, shaking her head, trying to keep the tears from coming. "I knew you were going to eventually." Her voice cracked in an effort to hold back the tears that were already beginning to run down her face against her will. She couldn't fall apart. She needed to stay composed. "I knew this was going to happen," she continued, trying to hold herself together, but she was failing miserably. The tears kept coming, and Kiyoko couldn't handle it and collapsed into his chest.

"I know it's so selfish of me!" she cried, her voice hoarse and broken, cries of agony escaping her throat, hitting Madara like shock waves. He was becoming overwhelmed more and more by the minute. He couldn't keep up with his quickly heightening emotions. In an effort to hold her together, he hugged her tightly, and leaned his head on hers, which was buried deep in his bosom. It didn't seem to help him much, and the feeling in his chest soared even higher.

"But, please, don't leave me!" she wailed, in between full on sobs, unable to contain her despair any longer, whilst gripping the back of his shirt tightly in hopes of tangible comfort. Madara held her even tighter. He could feel her pain seeping into his very soul. And his feelings were becoming unmanageable.

"Please, don't go!" she cried out into his chest. " _ I love you! _ "

Madara's breathing hitched. Then, it was silent, except for Kiyoko’s fits of sobs, which were muffled by his chest. He looked down at her, but he couldn’t see her face. He couldn’t bear this, but he didn’t know how to change it. It was the only way now.

He closed his eyes, and brushed his lips against her forehead, forgetting everything. All composure he ever had just vanished, along with the rest of the world. He just shoved it out of the way. It had always been in the way, in between him and her. It had always kept them apart, but not anymore.

She trembled as she tried to calm herself down, but she couldn’t. He kept holding her, and only held her tighter when she shook. He had never done this for her, after all this time. He had never truly held her.

" _ And I love you _ ," he whispered to her, and she only clung harder. Her sobs became quieter, and she stopped shaking, so he nuzzled her cheek. She slowly turned her face up towards him, still leaning her head on his chest. Her nose brushed his, and she gazed into his eyes with her own tear-stained ones: those piercing green eyes that he loved down to the depths of his soul. He didn’t want to see her cry anymore.

He leaned into her, and she kissed him in return. He didn’t know if he was doing this right, but it didn’t matter anymore. He couldn’t leave right now, not anymore. He wasn’t going to leave her when she needed him most.

He picked her up and laid her on his futon, which was behind her. They didn’t part for a second. As soon as he laid her down, she pulled back and looked at him, probably confused. He just looked back at her. She was so beautiful. Why he hadn’t ever told her that, he didn’t know. He should have.

He crashed back into her. She didn’t make any protest. He kissed her in every way he could think of, every place he could reach around her face. He didn’t care that audible sighs were emanating from her throat. He didn’t care if the whole world could hear. It didn’t matter. This was his love.

He could have kissed her for hours on end, for days even, just to make up for all those times he didn’t when he should have; for all those times he should have told her that he loved her. He’d been at it now for quite some time, but she was getting tired. She didn’t have any strength left. She was beautiful, her hair everywhere, laying underneath him. How easy it was for her to be so dazzling: it fascinated him. She could put him in a daze in a moment.

He stopped kissing her and laid beside her, pulling her close, and not an inch further away from him. They simply embraced each other like that, her head resting on his chest, arms around each other. Unlike before, the silence around them meant nothing: it could not separate them because there was no space between them for the silence to enter. She was closer than she had ever been to him, and she was everything to him in this moment. Leaving would be even harder now. But he had decided; he wasn’t going to leave her tonight. He couldn’t. Not like this.

He’d never held her quite like this. He’d never caressed her like this. Even a month ago, he had been too afraid to show any kind of passionate feelings towards her. He had kept them safely locked away in his mind, and never planned on displaying any of them, all because he thought it was for her own good. But he knew that wasn’t true anymore. He wasn’t afraid anymore. She loved him. What else was there to hold him back? He loved her, too. He just wouldn’t let himself realize it until now. He was too blinded by his own fear of himself to accept it.

"I will return," Madara promised, his voice coming out as a low murmur. "After my work is finished, I will come back for you." Her green eyes pierced his heart, and he knew a different love than he had with Izuna. Kiyoko was a woman, and she was his woman: his love. He couldn’t take her along with him, though. It wasn’t her place to come. Leaving would be hard, but coming back for her would be easy.

He held her there in his arms, watching her fall asleep. Even after she had, he kept stroking her hair, letting it run between his fingers, feeling her skin upon his, smelling her scent, feeling her warmth, hearing her breathe. And only then, he slowly allowed himself to slip into a short, yet somewhat peaceful slumber.

Then, by dawn the next morning, he was gone.


	31. Chapter 31

"He’s gone."

Mito didn’t appear understand what Kiyoko was talking about.

"What do you mean?" Mito asked. "Who is?"

"Madara," Kiyoko whispered, and Mito let out a gasp. Then, without hesitation, she took Kiyoko by the arm and led her from the front door and into a sitting room to speak with her further. Kiyoko didn’t resist this at all. As soon as the both of them got situated, Mito looked at Kiyoko again.

"What happened?" she asked, and Kiyoko took a deep breath. She couldn’t cry anymore. She seemingly had none left to shed.

"He told me last night he was leaving the clan," Kiyoko began.

"Did he say where he was going?" asked a voice, and Kiyoko looked up to see Hashirama standing in the threshold of the room.

"No," Kiyoko said quietly.

"Do you know why he left?" Hashirama asked, and Kiyoko thought for a moment. It already hurt to think about it, but she had to answer.

"He said he wanted to continue on the path of peace," Kiyoko replied, looking away from Hashirama. She suspected that the Hokage knew something about the situation. Hashirama continued.

"Did you know that he had been doing extensive research on peace?"

"Yes. I didn’t know the details, but I knew he was working very passionately on it."

Hashirama sighed. Kiyoko didn’t look at him. She only waited for him to say something. He didn’t for some time, as if he was trying to figure out where to begin. Kiyoko only sat and waited. Finally, Hashirama spoke.

"Madara believes that peace can only be created and maintained by those who have—"

"Power," Kiyoko said, finishing Hashirama’s statement. "I know that much about him."

"Yes," Hashirama said. "But that’s not all. Madara came to me a few days ago. He tried to convince me of his ‘findings,’ as he called them. He revealed to me ‘the true history of the shinobi world,’ which, according to him, consisted of a continuous cycle of failed peace. He told me that true peace could never be achieved in the way that I sought after, and furthermore, that the Senju and Uchiha would never be able to coexist. He demanded that I face the reality that Konoha was a failure. But I didn’t agree with him. So, he left my office."

Kiyoko was looking at Hashirama now, listening. Hashirama paused for a moment, and then continued.

"I heard earlier today that he tried to convince his clansmen of the same ideals, but many of them sought refuge with the Senju way of living. They saw that Konoha was a beacon of peace, not a failure."

Kiyoko was now comparing this to what Madara had told her the night before. She wasn’t sure what to think anymore.

"The Uchiha have branded him a traitor," Hashirama continued, and Kiyoko looked up at him again, this time with worry in her eyes.

"And," Hashirama went on. "Since you are his wife, they view you in the same light." Kiyoko couldn’t help but look horrified. She  _ really  _ didn’t know what to do anymore.

"It is no longer safe for you to live near the Uchiha," Hashirama said. "So Mito and I will take you in. I will have Madara’s servants bring your belongings to a rendezvous point in town so that you can pick them up without having to return to the home and risk being seen."

Kiyoko didn’t know what to think anymore. This was all so overwhelming. Why did this have to happen to her?

"I want you to make a list of belongings you want to have brought to you," Hashirama went on. "I will have that list taken to the servants in secret today."

Kiyoko couldn’t move. Her whole world had been turned upside down in little more than twelve hours. It was almost as if she was right back where she started when she first came to Konoha. The Uchiha hated her all over again.

Hashirama nodded to Mito and said that he was going to leave for work. Kiyoko looked up at him again, catching his eye before he could turn away.

"Madara has been branded a traitor by Konoha, not just the Uchiha," she said, the look in her eyes fierce. "I know that’s true."

"That is correct," Hashirama said, after some hesitation.

"What are you going to do, then?" she asked further. She wanted to know what his plan was.

"There’s not much that I can do except wait," Hashirama replied. "Madara said he would return, didn’t he?"

"Yes," Kiyoko confirmed. " _ But what are you going to do when he does? _ " She wouldn’t let him leave until she knew.

Hashirama sighed. It was silent for a moment.

"I can’t say," he said finally. "It is my goal to have him return to Konoha and make amends. But I can’t promise that will happen." Kiyoko looked away from him. She wanted that to happen for sure. But she knew, just as well as Hashirama, that Madara was stubborn in his ways. She wanted to have hope, though.


	32. Chapter 32

Kiyoko sighed. It had been about a week since she moved in with Mito and Hashirama. She felt like a burden to them, even though they never expressed such a thing. Kiyoko couldn’t help but feel that way, though. She didn’t belong in a Senju household. She was married to an Uchiha, so naturally, she belonged in an Uchiha household.

Just as Hashirama had promised, he sent Kiyoko’s list of belongings to the Uchiha servants to collect and bring to a place in Konoha. The rendezvous point was in a part of Konoha that was densely populated by Senju, so Kiyoko would be safe getting her things from that destination.

While writing her list of belongings, which wasn’t all that long at all, Kiyoko wrote at the very end, " _ black furoshiki _ ." She knew the servants would know what she was talking about, so she didn’t have to explain. Ever since she unpacked everything and got situated in her new living space, she kept the furoshiki close to her at all times. It was the only way she could still smell his scent now that she wasn’t living in his home anymore. She couldn’t deny that she missed him. But it was a form of tangible hope for her, as dismal as the outlook on the situation seemed.

Kiyoko also had to write to her brothers and tell them what happened. She didn’t want to, because she knew they would get defensive of her, but she needed to let them know her address had changed. She didn’t want to lie to them either, and she told them of the hope she had in Madara. She asked them to have the same hope as she did, and to continue writing to her as often as they could, for she missed them just as dearly.

Kuro had also taken a liking to a woman from the Inuzuka clan, just as Kiyoko had expected. Although Kuro had yet to further the relationship, he definitely was intending to do so soon. Kashikoi and his "darling," as he allegedly dubbed her, were doing just fine as well, and Kiyoko was glad to hear it. They all hoped to meet each other soon, so Kiyoko had something to look forward to.

As another day began in the Senju household, Kiyoko situated herself comfortably in her room. She wasn’t all that hungry, as she hadn’t been lately. She’d been quite fatigued lately, so she resolved to spend another restful day in her new room. It wasn’t the same as her room at Madara’s home: that was for sure. She didn’t have a view of the courtyard, and her futon smelled different from the one she had in Madara’s home, but Kiyoko supposed these were trivial things to other guests, so she needed to loosen up a bit. She would get used to it eventually.

Just as she was getting ready to read a book, there was a knock at her door.

"Who is it?" Kiyoko asked, looking at the door from her comfortable position in the middle of the room.

"Just me," said a voice, and Kiyoko recognized it immediately as Mito. "May I come in?"

"Of course," Kiyoko said, picking up the plaited thread she used as a bookmark. Mito slid the door open and stepped inside, closing the door behind her. She had a funny look on her face, which usually meant something was on her mind.

"You’ve been in your room ever since you got here, Kiyoko," Mito said, looking about the room. "You need to get out a little bit, don’t you think?" Kiyoko shook her head, closing her book.

"I really shouldn’t," she said tiredly. "I’ve been a bit ill lately, and my prior servants suggested that I rest until I’m back to normal."

"You’ve been ill?" Mito asked, a shocked look on her face. Kiyoko nodded reluctantly. She had hoped she would be better by now.

"I couldn’t keep anything down for a whole week," Kiyoko said, shuddering at the thought. "Since then, I’ve improved, but not a whole lot. I’ve felt quite weak lately, and sometimes I still felt a bit queasy, so I tried to take things easy. I’m not sure if it’s been helping or not. Perhaps it has some."

Mito only looked at her with a dumbfounded expression. Kiyoko looked back at her, confused.

"What is it?" Kiyoko asked carefully. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know. Mito always had something strange to say.

"You were sick for a whole week?" Mito asked in a suspicious tone. Kiyoko looked at her.

"Yes," Kiyoko said. "The maids said I had some sort of virus."

"But you’re  _ still _ sick?" Mito pushed further. Kiyoko didn’t understand what she was talking about.

"I suppose so," Kiyoko said. "I’ve gotten a little better though."

"But you’re still feeling kind of sick almost every day?" Mito asked. Kiyoko nodded affirmatively.

"When did you first get sick?" Mito questioned. Kiyoko felt like she was being interrogated now. She sighed and thought about it.

"A few weeks ago?" Kiyoko said timidly, and Mito’s face lit up. Then, she paused and began to wander about the room thoughtfully. Kiyoko didn’t know what to think anymore. She had no clue where Mito was going with any of this.

"Oh, how do I put this?" Mito wondered out loud. She turned swiftly back to Kiyoko, who returned her gaze with a confused expression.

"Did you and Madara... ever  _ do  _ anything?" Mito asked slowly. Kiyoko really had no idea what that question even meant.

"What do you mean, ‘did we ever do anything?’" Kiyoko asked. Mito sighed and smiled.

"Well, I didn’t want to be blunt," she chuckled. "But I see you leave me no choice." Kiyoko raised an eyebrow.

"Let’s see," Mito said thoughtfully. "When a man and a woman love each other very much, they  _ do _ things. Did you  _ do  _ those things?"

Now, Kiyoko understood.

"Maybe? Yes?" Kiyoko squeaked hesitantly, covering her face in embarrassment. "Good grief, Mito. You have absolutely no shame."

"So he’s not such a tombstone after all," Mito said with surprise, before chuckling. Kiyoko turned bright red.

"Mito!" Kiyoko whined, now becoming annoyed in her embarrassment.

"Oh alright, alright," Mito laughed, holding her hands up. "I’ll admit I digressed a little bit." Kiyoko folded her arms in a huff, still trying to stop blushing.

"Anyway," Mito continued, focusing back on Kiyoko intensely. "I don’t think you have a virus. I think you have morning sickness."

Kiyoko looked back up at Mito in shock.

"You don’t mean..." Kiyoko murmured, and Mito nodded, smiling knowingly.

"Call me a liar," she said. "But I think you’re expecting."

Kiyoko couldn’t speak for a few seconds. She didn’t know what to say at all. She was in total shock. When she could finally speak, it came out along with the breath she’d been holding.

"Oh my gosh," she breathed, almost panting. She couldn’t believe she didn’t connect that from the start. She didn’t know why it hadn’t struck her as odd, but it didn’t. She just couldn’t believe it.

Mito knelt down in front of her, a warm smile on her face, but Kiyoko couldn’t shake a thought from her mind.

"If I had known..." she said softly, looking off. "If I had known at the time... maybe he wouldn’t have left."

The smile disappeared from Mito’s face.

"Kiyoko," Mito murmured, sadness in her voice. Now, she didn’t know what to say anymore. But Kiyoko sighed.

"No," Kiyoko said quietly, shaking her head. "He would have gone anyway. He has a goal, and he means to accomplish it. Nothing would have stopped him: not even that. It only would have made him more determined to reach his goal." When Mito didn’t say anything, Kiyoko looked back up at her.

"Please don’t tell anyone," Kiyoko begged in a soft whisper. "Please. I don’t want anyone to know. I don’t want to make his reputation any worse than it already is."

Mito sighed. Kiyoko looked at her pleadingly. Madara was already called a traitor for leaving the village and for leaving the clan, not to mention for leaving his own wife. If the townspeople found out that he had left an unborn child, knowingly or not, that would be another reason for them to hate his name, and Kiyoko didn’t want that to happen. She couldn’t tell Hashirama, or even her own brothers. It had to remain a secret for as long as possible.

"Please," Kiyoko whispered. "Not even Hashirama can know this. It would devastate Madara’s reputation. He’d never be welcomed here again." Mito nodded.

"I understand," she whispered, hugging Kiyoko. "This is between you and me."


	33. Chapter 33

After their talk, Mito did as much as she could to help Kiyoko hide her pregnancy. Lucky for Kiyoko, she was barely showing at all, so nobody suspected a thing. Mito had been through that stage of pregnancy as well, so she was able to help Kiyoko along every step of the way, even though she was unable to seek the care of medical professionals.

Inevitably though, by the third month, Kiyoko had to stop wearing yukata. It was too form fitting, and when she began to show, the yukata made it obvious. So, she began to wear lighter, flowing dresses instead, which worked very well.

Kiyoko’s morning sickness wore off quickly, which was a relief. She still found herself feeling rather tired though, but Mito told her it was nothing to be worried about. Fatigue was a normal experience during pregnancy, and the best thing to do was rest anyway. So, Kiyoko spent a bit more time resting, but she also made sure to get out and about some as well. She wanted to seem as normal as possible, and if she could ignore her symptoms, Konoha would never know.

She didn’t show a whole lot at three months, but it was enough to be obvious. Kiyoko didn’t know what she was going to do when she couldn’t hide it anymore. She couldn’t just wear a giant sack over herself. She found herself hoping and praying that Madara would miraculously return, to the point that she even daydreamed about him just walking through the door.

She knew that wouldn’t happen, though. Things weren’t like that. They never would be, and she knew it. That wasn’t the man she married. She had married an ambitious man, who would stop at nothing to achieve his goals. So, with that being established, the only thing she could do was hope that he was alright.

Kiyoko also had reasons to be happy, however. That afternoon, her brothers would be visiting her along with their Inuzuka fiancées. Kiyoko was excited. She hadn’t seen her brothers in months, and she couldn’t wait to meet their soon-to-be wives. In every letter that she had received from them, her brothers had displayed real affection towards the women, and Kiyoko was excited to see who they were.

Kiyoko had decided that morning that she would have a good day. She wasn’t going to think too deeply about herself, or Madara, or the child coming. She was going to be entirely invested in her brothers and meeting their fiancées. She wouldn’t think sad thoughts, and she would enjoy her time with her brothers, just as she always had.

So, she put on a nice white dress with embroidery and went to the market with Mito to buy food for the picnic they would have. They would all be going to the garden nearby the Senju household, simply to stay away from any Uchiha. Her brothers knew about the whole incident, and knew that Kiyoko couldn’t risk being seen, so they were entirely for avoiding a bad situation at all costs.

When the afternoon rolled around, and Kiyoko and Mito had finally prepared the picnic, they packed it all up into boxes and took it to the park. Kiyoko found herself a nice bench to sit at, and Mito sat next to her, waiting. Her brothers would be there any minute. They remembered where the park was, and they were always quite punctual.

Sure enough, within a few minutes, her brothers’ silhouettes appeared at the entrance of the park, and Kiyoko stood from the bench to wave at them.

"Kiyoko!" called Kashikoi, running toward her, and Kuro quickly followed suit. Kiyoko smiled bigger than she had in a long time. When they finally made it over to where she was standing, they both hugged her at the same time, and she hugged back, never wanting to let go. Eventually, though, they had to part, for the Inuzuka women came walking up behind the two brothers.

Kashikoi turned around first and motioned toward one of the women.

"This," he said with a smile. "Is Kame Inuzuka. Kame, this is my sister, Kiyoko Uchiha, and a family friend, Mito Senju." Kame bowed, and Kiyoko and Mito bowed in return. Kuro also introduced his fiancée, who was named Mari. Both of the women seemed very kind.

As the picnic went on, Kiyoko did notice that the women had a bit of a stubborn streak, just like Ookami women did. Kiyoko was not surprised. Their demeanor seemed quite similar, which was probably what allowed her brothers to relate to them and get along so well with them. Kame was probably the more hot tempered of the two women, but it was a good thing. Kashikoi needed someone with a bit of an attitude to combat his.

Mari was a bit on the softer side, which suited Kuro very well. He tended to be quieter than Kashikoi, and Mari seemed to fit with Kuro very well. She looked affectionate, which was something that Kuro was as well (although he’d never tell anybody that).

Kiyoko was pleased with the women that her brothers had picked. They brought out the best in her brothers, and she knew that was what they needed. The Inuzuka ladies were easy to talk to as well, almost as if they had always known Kiyoko.

They all talked and ate for hours, Kuro and Kashikoi telling stories, and Mari and Kame jumping in to retell them truthfully, since Kashikoi had a tendency of stretching the truth. It was the most fun that Kiyoko had experienced in a long time. She didn’t eat too much, simply because she wasn’t hungry. She hadn’t been too hungry lately, which probably wasn’t the best thing, considering that she was supposed to be eating for two, but Mito had allowed her to prepare dango for the picnic. Kiyoko had been craving dango lately, so she mainly stuck to eating that during the picnic.

Pregnancy was really intriguing to Kiyoko when she thought about it. She had never really thought too highly of dango before, but all of a sudden, she began to love it. Mito said that was normal as well, even if it was something she never used to like. It was still quite odd to Kiyoko to find herself eating such a thing that she would have normally turned down.

It was quite odd to her brothers as well, for they gave her a strange look when she bit into a dumpling right in front of them.

"Since when do you like dango?" Kashikoi asked suddenly, and Kiyoko stopped and looked at the skewered dumplings. She was suddenly scared. She tried to tell herself that there was no way they’d suspect a thing, but she was almost her brothers were going to guess her secret. She couldn’t speak for a moment. She had no clue what to say. But she had to say something. She had to pretend.

"I don’t know, actually," she finally replied, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw Mito relax. She had been holding her breath for what Kiyoko would say.

"You’re the girl that wouldn’t even look at dango when she was little!" Kuro laughed, and Kashikoi joined in with his own laughter. Kiyoko followed suit with her own giggles.

"I suppose I’ve learned to appreciate it a bit!" she said, smiling on the outside. Her brothers didn’t suspect a thing, and continued to laugh, and so did Kiyoko, although she deeply wished that she didn’t have to lie to them. She didn’t want to. But, she had to. It was all that she could do so that they wouldn’t worry.

* * *

Kiyoko’s brothers and their fiancées returned to their neighboring village after a couple of days in Konoha. Kiyoko promised them that she would come to their weddings, which were to be in about a month or so. Her brothers even talked about moving back to Konoha when they were married, but hadn’t made any concrete decisions on it yet. Regardless, Kiyoko was happy to hear that her brothers might be living near her again. She missed seeing them.

It had been a week since her brothers left. Kiyoko’s appetite had been changing a lot lately, and she and Mito had worked together to cover it up the best that they could. Kiyoko found that she couldn’t eat a whole lot, so she spent most of her time just drinking tea for sustenance, although Mito forced her to eat some kind of food every day for the baby. Kiyoko had to make herself eat it, but she knew it was for the best.

To occupy time, Kiyoko spent a lot of her days conversing with Mito. They cooked together, wrote together, talked together; they did almost everything together. Mito’s pregnancy was showing much more, simply because she was much later on in hers.

Because Mito had actually been through the stages of pregnancy that Kiyoko was going through, Kiyoko could easily consult Mito with questions that she had, and Mito was very good about answering them. Everything that Kiyoko had a problem with, Mito was able to help solve. But there was one question that Kiyoko had, and she was unsure that there would ever be a good answer for it.

It was bothering her one afternoon while the two of them were doing calligraphy together. She and Mito were in a sitting room, carefully painting large kanji on sheets of paper. It was always a fun pastime for Kiyoko and Mito, but that day, Kiyoko was really feeling bothered. She stopped painting, and looked up at Mito, who was across from her.

"Mito," she said, and the Senju looked up. "What am I going to do?"

Mito cocked her head to the side a little bit.

"What do you mean?" she asked, putting down her brush.

"I can’t hide this forever," Kiyoko said, looking down at herself. "What am I going to do then?" Mito sighed, taking in the question. It seemed as though she didn’t know an answer right off. It was a difficult question.

"We’ll figure out something, Kiyoko," Mito said finally. "It won’t do any good to worry about it now. Circumstances might change between now and then. But we will figure out something. I promise."

It was probably true. It wasn’t worth it to worry about that problem when it wasn’t even a problem yet. Kiyoko just wasn’t sure what she was going to have to face. She’d never done this before. If it weren’t for Mito, she probably wouldn’t have even known she was pregnant until much later. And, if it weren’t for Mito, Kiyoko probably wouldn’t have made it thus far. Since Kiyoko couldn’t afford to see a doctor due to her secrecy, Mito was all she had to look to for help. Surely, Mito would know what to do when the problem arose.

Just then, there was a knock at the front door. The sitting room wasn’t too far from the front door, so Mito stood to see who had come. Kiyoko stood up as well and followed her out to the front hallway.

A few shinobi were at the door, and they appeared to work for Hashirama. As soon as they saw Mito, they bowed toward her politely and one of them stepped forward as the servants shut the front door behind them for privacy.

"Hashirama came into contact with Uchiha Madara today," said the man, and both Mito and Kiyoko were visibly shocked. "Madara challenged Hashirama to a fight, and Hashirama decided to take the fight away from the village so as not to cause any damage."

Kiyoko couldn’t believe it. She hadn’t heard anything about her husband in over a month. She wanted to be happy, but at the same time, she felt worried.

"Where have they gone?" Mito asked, and Kiyoko pushed her thoughts aside to listen again.

"Hashirama asked for their location to remain undisclosed," said the shinobi. "We were ordered to remain in Konoha, and were prohibited to follow unless Hashirama said otherwise. As you may have already guessed, this information is to be kept a secret until further orders are given."

"Understood," Mito replied, and Kiyoko nodded in response as well. The ninja bowed and exited the Senju household. Kiyoko wanted to be happy. Madara was around again. He was near. But she wasn’t sure about what was going to happen. She hadn’t expected him to challenge Hashirama to a fight. That worried her. She wanted everything to work out okay. She wanted Hashirama to do what he promised to do: bring Madara back. But it was something that was out of her hands, possibly even out of Hashirama’s hands, as much as she hated to admit it. All she could do was pray that Madara would agree to Hashirama’s terms and come back to the village. She wanted him to come back. She needed him to come back. She believed in him with every fiber of her body, and she knew he was a man of his word. She just hoped he could overcome his own stubbornness towards Hashirama.


	34. Chapter 34

Mito could tell that the last couple of days had been tough on Kiyoko. She looked stressed out, and on top of that, she seemed a bit weaker than normal. Kiyoko had already been feeling quite weak for a long time, simply due to her pregnancy, and now, the stress seemed to make things worse for her. Mito had been a bit fatigued during the early months of her own pregnancy, but she didn’t remember being this weak. She supposed pregnancy was different for everyone. It was the only sensible conclusion she could come to.

She couldn’t blame Kiyoko for being stressed, though. Their husbands were out fighting each other. It was every wife’s worst nightmare, even though shinobi spent their lives preparing for such combat. Kiyoko’s stress really wasn’t helping her overall condition, though. Her health seemed to be declining, which wasn’t really a new thing for Kiyoko, but it still worried Mito a little bit. She couldn’t go to a doctor, and Mito hoped that it was something that would quickly pass. All they could do was wait for news on the battle. Mito hoped it would be over soon. She wasn’t sure how much more Kiyoko could take.

Kiyoko hadn’t really expressed her worries to Mito until about two days after they had been told about the fight. It was late in the evening, and the sun had just set. Kiyoko was speaking to Mito in a sitting room about her thoughts. She had tried to keep them to herself, but she couldn’t anymore. She was so worried for Madara. Mito told her that it wasn’t good for her to worry too much about it, simply because it was taking a visible toll on her. Kiyoko understood, and she even agreed, explaining that she had tried to use reason in the situation. She did need to calm down, but she just couldn’t. It had kept her from falling asleep until quite late at night the past couple of nights, and she didn’t know what to do with herself. The only thing Mito could tell her was to have hope.

Mito was scared, too. Her husband was a strong man, but so was Madara. She wanted things to turn out alright. Outwardly, she was confident that Hashirama would bring Madara back, but somewhere inside, she felt like the situation was hopeless. Madara had always disagreed with Hashirama. She had to be strong for Kiyoko, though. Kiyoko needed something to hold onto. She was running out of support. Mito had to do as much as she could for her. There was nothing else that she could do except for that.

As the two were talking, there was a knock at the front door. It was getting late, and Mito couldn’t imagine who would be knocking at her door at this hour. Mito stood from the cushion she was sitting on, and went out to the front hall to answer the door. Kiyoko slowly stood and followed her, staying by the wall to help herself along.

Right as Mito got to the door, a servant slid the door open for her, and there, on the porch, stood two high-ranking shinobi.

"Lady Mito Senju, we need you to come with us right away," said one of the men. Mito looked at them confusedly. These ninja worked directly under her husband.

"The Hokage has specifically ordered us to bring you to the battlefield immediately," explained the other man. "He performed a seal on the Kyūbi during battle, and deemed it too dangerous to roam free. He selected you to be it’s jinjuriki."

The news came as a shock to Mito, but she accepted her duty without hesitation. She was still unsure of one thing, though.

"So, the battle is over?" she asked, and the ninja nodded. "How is Hashirama?"

"Medical ninja have already made it to the battlefield and are healing his wounds," said the ninja. "He should be in better condition by the time we get there."

"And Madara?" Mito heard Kiyoko ask from behind her. The ninja took a breath.

"He died in battle," he said. Mito gasped. She couldn’t believe it. She whirled around to face Kiyoko.

Kiyoko was in absolute shock. She couldn’t utter a noise. Her gaze slowly fell from the door, and Mito could see the painful reality being processed in Kiyoko eyes. Just as Mito was about to reach out to comfort her, Kiyoko fell backwards.

A maid caught her from behind, and Mito caught her from the front before she could hit the ground. She was out cold.

"Kiyoko!" Mito said, finally able to speak. She looked up at one of the maids and told them to get a fan and some water. The maid hurried out of the room. The other maids helped Mito lower Kiyoko to the ground.

"Lady Mito," said one of the men standing at the doorway. "We can call for medical ninja to assist her, but we need to go soon."

"Just hold on for a minute," Mito said, ignoring the men. She couldn’t call a doctor, at least not yet. Kiyoko would be okay, she only fainted. But Mito was worried. She knew Kiyoko hadn’t been faring well as of lately. She looked awful. This was too much shock for her to take in her current state of health.

The maid rushed back into the front hall with fans and water.

"Dab some water on her face," Mito ordered, trying to keep her voice calm. She took a fan and began fanning Kiyoko’s face. Another maid took a fan and was doing the same, while another quickly dabbed water on her face with a cloth. Kiyoko wasn’t waking up.

"Here," Mito said, giving her fan to another maid, and grabbing another cloth. She dunked it in the cold water and dabbed it on Kiyoko’s face and neck. She still wouldn’t wake up.

"Lady Mito?" said one of the men again.

"Please," Mito said, her stress rising. "Give me a minute." She continued dabbing Kiyoko’s face, but it didn’t seem to be working. She threw her cloth in the bucket of water and began loosening Kiyoko’s clothing. It didn’t appear to be all that tight on her, but she needed to have breathing room.

"Lady Mito," said one of the men standing at the door, referring to Mito. "We really must be going."

"Would you show some patience?" Mito snapped, turning and glaring dangerously at the two men. "If you need to leave, then  _ do so. _ I will be with you once I see that she is alright!" The men quickly bowed, and uttered a " _ sumimasen _ " before scrambling out the door. Mito turned back to Kiyoko without even acknowledging them, and she continued fanning her friend rigorously. It wasn’t working.

Suddenly, Mito froze. Kiyoko’s chest wasn’t moving. She didn’t look like she was breathing.

"She’s not responding," Mito gasped, barely able to make the words come out. She quickly put her ear against Kiyoko’s chest to check for a heartbeat. Nothing.

"Her heart isn’t beating," Mito said, panic filling her now and making her voice rise. "She’s gone into cardiac arrest!"

The maids looked up at her in shock.

"Get help!" Mito shouted to one of them. "Get medical ninja now!" Two of the maids got up and ran out the front door, and Mito began to perform CPR, tears beginning to stream down her face.

"Come on, Kiyoko," Mito pleaded, pumping as hard as she could on Kiyoko’s chest. "Don’t you dare! Don’t you dare!!"

Kiyoko still wasn’t moving, and Mito only pumped harder.

"Come on!" Mito cried, tears blurring her vision and falling onto Kiyoko’s chest below her. "Don’t you die!" Kiyoko couldn’t die now. She had a baby to live for. She had her brothers to live for. She had her whole life ahead of her. She couldn’t die—not now. Not now.

Medical ninja rushed into the house from behind her and surrounded Kiyoko’s body. Another ninja pulled Mito back so that they could begin a healing justu. Mito sobbed. It would do no good, no matter what they tried to do. Mito shook her head violently and turned away from it all. She couldn’t look anymore. She knew it was too late.

Kiyoko was dead.


	35. Chapter 35

It was dark. It almost felt like sleep. It was restful, but at the same time, it felt odd. The more time passed, the stranger it all felt. It almost felt like a nightmare, the feeling heightening exponentially as the minutes passed. It almost felt as though death was really coming.

Madara’s eyes shot open, and he coughed up blood. He quickly shut his eyes, and felt his right eye burning in pain. When he opened his eyes again, he couldn’t see out of his right eye. The Izanagi had worked. His death was now an illusion.

He tried to sit up, and grunted at the pain that shot through his body. He still had deep wounds that would need healing. He relaxed for a second to regain some strength in his muscles, and looked around with his one remaining eye.

It was dark, and it seemed as though he was in some sort of cave. He could sense the residue of foreign chakra on his body. Some ninja must have hidden his body in this cave for safekeeping. It wasn’t the most comfortable place, but he hadn’t planned on staying there for long anyway.

When he felt that he had built up enough energy to move again, he tried to stand. Slowly, using the wall of the cave, he was able to get on his feet again and brush himself off. There was blood all over his clothes, and all over his hands. He felt immensely weak, but at least he was alive. The remaining chakra signatures seemed to be very faint, which meant that the ninja had been gone from the cave for some time. Madara wasn’t exactly sure how long he had been dead.

"Madara-sama," greeted a raspy voice from the shadows, but it didn’t startle Madara a bit. He had sensed Black Zetsu’s chakra before he had a chance to say anything.

"How was death?" Zetsu asked, a hint of humor in his voice. Ever since Madara had met him, Black Zetsu had always had a sarcastic side.

"It wasn’t very lively," Madara muttered in return, figuring he might as well hand the man’s joke right back to him. Madara swallowed, the taste of blood still in his mouth some. He didn’t mind that all too much. He wanted to get to healing his wounds as soon as possible.

"How long have I been dead?" Madara asked, not bothering to look in Zetsu’s direction. It was dark, and he was black. It was no use trying to look at him.

"About a week and a half," Zetsu replied. He always seemed to talk slowly. Sometimes it could be quite annoying to Madara.

Madara sighed, brushing his right eyelid with his hand. It might as well be closed if it wasn’t going to be of any use to him.

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news," Zetsu continued suddenly. "But your wife is dead."

Madara froze, and almost choked on his own blood. He couldn’t move for a second. He couldn’t feel. He didn’t want to process what he had just heard. But he did. He felt his jaw quivering. Slowly, he turned his head toward the voice in the darkness. Sure enough, Zetsu’s glowing yellow eyes stared back at him, only a few yards away.

"What did you say?" Madara breathed, barely able to find his breath in the cave. It felt like his air was being cut off. He didn’t want to hear that sentence ever again. Never.

"She died after hearing the news of your death," Zetsu continued, and he paused for a moment before continuing. "And, she was pregnant with your child."

Madara could feel his own heart stop. He wanted it to stop. He didn’t want to hear those words. But he heard them. He couldn’t take it. He couldn’t believe that. That was a lie. It wasn’t true. It couldn’t be true.

His jaw clenched, and fire rose in his heart, which was quickly breaking to pieces. A deep rage was filling his throat.

"Leave me," he growled dangerously, barely able to get the words to even come out. He was infuriated. No, he was beyond infuriated. There were no words for how angry he was. It filled his chest, and lingered his throat like vomit.

" _ Hai _ ," Black Zetsu answered obediently, and he disappeared.

His rage only heightened. It seethed out of his teeth, and ate away at his insides. He didn’t know what to do. He didn’t know what to do. He didn’t know what to feel. He could only feel anger, furiously boiling inside of him, tearing him apart, fiber by fiber.

So, he did the only thing he could do. He yelled, and with all the breath he could muster, releasing into the night a sound so filled with agony and devastation that it could have cracked any stone in half. He swung at the wall in front of him and smashed it, leaving a jagged crater, and he panted, teeth clenched together, fire in his eyes, and listened as his cry echoed until it was silent again except for his breathing. In between his disturbed and uneven breaths, he shook violently, for he could not contain the tears that fell from his eyes: both eyes. Part of him was forever dead now—forever gone. He couldn’t take that. He couldn’t take that.

He choked on blood in his throat, and he couldn’t compose himself and coughed up more of it, tears falling into the mix. He couldn’t take it. His love; she couldn’t be gone. She was his. This wasn’t supposed to happen. She wasn’t supposed to die. He promised her. He meant it. It was all supposed to work.

His heart crumbled. He couldn’t remember how she felt. He couldn’t remember exactly how her skin felt, how her hair felt. He couldn’t quite remember exactly how she smelled, or exactly what her beautiful voice sounded like, even though he could almost hear it in his mind. He couldn’t remember how her eyes looked, even though he could remember how it felt when they pierced his heart. He shook. All of that was gone. All of that had been ripped from him, and he was now left with what felt like half of a soul.

She was his everything, and now, he had nothing. He had abandoned her, and now it was too late. He couldn’t take it. She had a child—his child. And now, they were both gone. He didn’t know. He wished he had known. He didn’t want to live anymore. How could he? His Kiyoko was gone forever from his grasp.

He looked down at his hands, covered in blood. He had killed her. He hadn’t meant to. He didn’t mean for this to happen. He promised he would come back for her. He did all that he could. He didn’t die. He promised he would come back for her, and he wasn’t going to break that, no matter what. But he had killed her. He had unintentionally killed her. It wasn’t a coincidence that she died after hearing that he did. She couldn’t live anymore, and it was because of him. He had let her die. He had  _ killed  _ his love.

He caught his breath and slowed down some, turning his head toward the sky.

"I’m so sorry," he whispered, hopelessly yearning for his words to reach her. He knew they wouldn’t. It was too late for him to apologize. That wasn’t enough. It would never be enough. It wasn’t enough for Izuna, and it would never be enough for Kiyoko either. They were both gone now, the only people he ever loved, the only people he ever allowed himself to love, the only people he allowed into his heart.

His tears ceased. He wasn’t strong enough. He never had been. He couldn’t protect them, not on his own. His own will had never been enough. They deserved so much more than he could ever give alone. Now, it was too late for them. There was nothing he could do for them now. And he’d never forgive himself for it. Not ever.

Konoha was always inadequate. It was a failure. It was supposed to be a place where children could have a childhood, where lovers could flourish, where people would grow to a ripe old age, where war and pain would never have a place. But it wasn’t. It never was, and it never would be, the way it was headed. Hashirama didn’t understand that. The Uchiha clan didn’t understand that. Nobody but Madara understood that.

Hashirama was wrong. War had killed Madara’s brother, and Konoha had killed his wife. Peace the way Hashirama described it was impossible. It was not peace: not if everyone Madara loved had to die to achieve it. That was not the answer.

There was only one path to peace, and that was the path of consistency. The world was always changing now, and it was never truly peaceful. True peace lasted forever, totally undisturbed, unfaltering, unchanging. That peace lied in the Infinite Tsukuyomi. There was no other way.

He didn’t know how he would do it just yet. But he knew that it had to be done. He had to do it, for the world’s sake. There was no other option for him now. That was his purpose, now that he was left with nothing else in this world.

He slowly made his way to the mouth of the cave, and when he got outside, he looked up at the sky. It was clear out, and the full moon was shining brilliantly. He stared at it, and he could only think of Kiyoko.

He remembered how she had commented about the moon so long ago. He hadn’t thought so much of what she said then, but he could still remember it, even now. It was right after he had stained her honor. He didn’t even know what to say to her at that point. He didn’t know what was happening inside of himself. He couldn’t even put words to how he felt at the time, but looking back on it, he knew he felt guilty. He had been wrong to treat her like a child, because she wasn’t. She was a woman, and he was just starting to figure that out for himself.

But he remembered that night like it was yesterday. With that same moon shining above him, how could he forget? Although he didn’t realize it then, he could look back upon it and call it the moment he truly fell in love with her, the moment he did himself in.

He had always kicked himself for never actually apologizing to her. He was horrible with words when it came to emotional things like that. Apologizing was never a sufficient practice in his eyes, so he did his best to avoid it. But he had always felt guilty about it. She deserved that apology, as well as many others.

_ "The moon is beautiful tonight," Kiyoko spoke, breaking the silence. She didn’t shatter the silence, though, as Madara might have expected her to do. He looked in her direction, to see her gazing upward, the reflection of the moon in her eyes. He turned his gaze indifferently toward the moon as well, just to see what nonsense she was speaking of now. After affirming that the moon was indeed still in the sky and observable, Madara responded with another "hn." _

_ "And it’s full," she added. Her voice was so silky. He found it slightly charming to listen to, but only very slightly. "So it shines the brightest it ever will." Her face was glowing even more radiantly than Madara had ever noticed. She was always fair-skinned, but now she looked to be even more so. She looked like royalty. _

_ "Yet, even when we can’t see it, we still know it’s there," Kiyoko went on, unconsciously combing through her long brown locks with her fingers. It was all pulled off over one shoulder. "I’ve always thought it seemed tender and motherly." She shook her head and smiled softly. _

_ "It’s a curious thing," she said. "Even with my canine blood, I still don’t know why dogs and wolves howl to the moon." Madara squinted a little bit in response, but Kiyoko wasn’t looking at him to notice. She sighed, her eyes still locked on the orb in the night sky. "Maybe they’re looking for some sort of guidance from it." Madara said nothing, and continued to look at her out of the corner of his eye. _

_ She blinked and looked down, and then over at Madara, whom she found to be staring at her. Upon realizing this, she turned away and looked down, shaking her head, smiling sadly. _

_ "I talk too much, don’t I?" she said, forcing a small laugh and looking sheepishly back up at Madara. _

_ "No," Madara replied, and Kiyoko’s eyes locked with his for a moment. _

He had been so different then. He hadn't understood himself. He hadn't understood what feelings were, and why they bothered him so much. He hadn’t understood why other men wanted to be around women. They didn’t seem so special to him at the time. But he was ignorant then.

_ Madara could care less about the moon. It was something stirring in him that had his attention. It was barely there, but he could feel something he didn’t recognize: a parasite of a feeling. Whatever it was, it didn’t matter either. A peculiar woman was in his presence, or perhaps he was in hers. He had never met her until now, even though he had known her for much longer. It didn’t make sense to him. Why didn’t he see this side of her all the time? He was always the same, no matter what. Why couldn’t she be that way? Why did she have so many expressions? So many feelings? So many voices? He didn’t get it. Why did she find beauty in the moon when it always changed? Maybe because it was like her? The one and only thing Madara could deduce from that moment was that he thought the moon would be much more useful if it were constant. _

Kiyoko had opened up his heart in a way that he didn’t know was possible. He had fought it for so long, but it overcame him eventually. It should have overtaken him earlier, if only he had let it. She deserved so much more from him. There were so many things he should have told her, so many things he should have said.

She had been right about the moon. Madara was sure now that wolves weren’t the only ones who looked to the moon for guidance. When it was full, the moon could serve as guidance for everyone. It could shine a soft light for travelers, and it was comforting. The moon was the source of peace. It always had been. Infinite Tsukuyomi was cast using the moon. It truly was a point of comfort and guidance.

So, he decided. All that he could do now—for Izuna, Kiyoko, and his child that never was—was to continue. He would bring peace to the world, in their honor. He couldn’t let the world experience that kind of pain and loss. The world didn’t need to. He knew the answer now. All he had to do was put together the perfect plan, execute it exactly, and it would be over.

It was set in his mind and heart like stone. It would never be shaken. He had decided. Under this new plan, the world would never have to feel pain again. Children could be children. Lovers would flourish. People would grow old. The world would be protected. His purpose would be fulfilled.

And so, he named his perfect plan.

_ Tsuki no Me. _

**_Eye of the Moon._ **


	36. Epilogue

He lived another life, one of anguish and solitude. He was nonexistent, a shadow that dared not be seen. He lurked and planned, and when he could no longer live, he entrusted all that he was to his apprentice.

And he fell into a slumber of nightmares and turmoil. He could not rest. He found no peace, and he yearned for a life he could never have. He dreamed of Kiyoko only to lose her over and over and over again, and then the same of Izuna. He could not wake from these terrors, and they consumed him, and filled him with a horrible hatred.

But he awoke in a new place he did not know, and felt as though he were in a body that was not his, but it was. His mind was plagued but he was so close. He was alive again, and suddenly his blood flew through his veins. He was alive! And he tore through his oppressors, all those standing in his path to peace, the evil ones who dared to challenge his love.

But the evil lurked and stabbed him straight through. He had not expected it. And he felt his body consumed and he screamed, and felt nothing but wretched pain he could not bear and he passed out again and again, but he would not die. He could not die. His peace was at hand. But the mass that ate at him spat him out, and he was left, immobile and useless now.

Such a sad sight he was. He could only imagine now. It was all ruins. But he saw Hashirama's face above him. He spoke, and Madara conversed in return. They had not spoken for years, for lifetimes. And Madara missed it. He remembered his friend. He remembered his own life, before all of the horrors of death. And he wished that Hashirama would forgive him. He hadn't known any other way. He only knew one way. But Hashirama was gentle with him. Madara had not yet spoken, and Hashirama began to speak of their lives, of the content days. He spoke of Kiyoko, and Madara could only listen. Of Kiyoko and Mito, and the summers and the peaceful life there was waiting for him. Madara thanked him, and could only hope for such things.

And he found there was no strength left in him. Hashirama's figure above him was fading into the light, and he closed his eyes, but he wanted to see. He breathed in and opened them once again, and the light had become so bright he couldn't see. And he peered through it for Hashirama, but his eyes could not find him.

But he felt as though he were standing, and he could wander through the light, and he searched more. The light was blinding, and he could barely see himself, but he didn't look down to check. He wasn't concerned with himself. He was looking.

Then he saw her, the pillar of his life. He could not bear to move, but she came to him, and he couldn't even stand before her for all that he had done to mar her. And so he fell to his knees and wept beneath her, and she bent down to him and she held him so close to her heart that he could hear. And she smiled at him, for he had come back for her as he had promised, of this one thing she was sure. And no longer was he weary, burdened, and broken, for now she was with him. Her voice surrounded him, and he finally knew peace, for it held him lovingly all along.


End file.
